Roxane Gay Bad Feminist Summary

Black Female Misconceptions

As a black woman in America’s society there are different stereotypes placed upon you, especially throughout media. Roxane Gay’s essay called Bad Feminist talks about her implications of being a feminist. Gay has a Ph. D. in rhetoric and technical communication, and has done many works on different social issues (Barrios 168). In this passage, she discusses the complexities of being a feminist, and how she feels like she is not fit to be a good feminist. However Gay ultimately comes to the conclusion that she wans to be a femensit, because not being a feminist is worst. Gay goes on to discuss the essential feminist, then she discusses how she fits into feminism, and she then discusses states her final position in feminism. I would like to discuss the

essential black woman displayed in media, how I fit into being a black woman, and my final stance on being black woman.
In American society, there are three essential versions of black woman throughout media.

In her piece Gay mentions these essential versions with different names in “working against these trenchant archetypes black women are forced into (angry black woman, mammy,Hottenot, and the like” (Gay 171). In this quote Gay gives the names of what the most common stereotypes of black woman are though society. The first type is the “jezebel”. This version of the black woman is hypersexualized and wants to engage in sexual activity all the time. This image of the hypersexualized black women is across all forms of media, but is prevalent In music videos and reality TV. The second version of the black woman is the “mammy”. She is a fat, old, and dark skinned. The purpose of these traits were to prove to society that black women are unattractive. Another purpose was to show society during Jim Crow that black women are meant to be domestic workers. The mammy character is found in books, likes Uncle Tom Cabin, advertising like Aunt Jemima, and movies where Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to win an Oscars in 1939 for playing a mammy character in the movie Gone with The Wind. The last most common stereotype about black women in media

is the “headstrong black woman”. The characteristic of this persona is being loud, and being sassy, and overall being aggressive. This persona came from a 1930’s show call Amos n’ Andy, two white men who acted like black women and purposefully scorned the black women’s way of speech. In her piece Gay states “The most significant problem with essential feminism is how it doesn’t allow for the complexities of human experience or individuality” (Gay 170). I agree with Gays quote, and I also think these stereotypes must be stopped because the media really shapes how the general population thinks of black women. These agendas are harmful, because all of these stereotypes only give three stories to black women. One way to combat these personas, is to have black women being shown in with unique and different personas. Shows like A Different World display an array of black women that help mold the agenda.
As a black woman, I do not relate to the essential black woman displayed in media, because I don’t fit into those stereotypical boxes so many other black women. I don’t not think that all black women are what the media portrays them to be. As a black woman, I do relate to being strong, because all of the prejudice and systematic racism I have experienced and potentially will experience in the future. As a black woman, my individual identity is more complex than the group identity that media portrays me in, because of this I actively recognized what stereotype is being place when watching TV or seeing other forms of media, and I also always be myself every day to reject these essentialized versions of black women. In the passage, Gay states her position in being a feminist by stating her individualism “When I drive to work I listen to thuggish rap at a very loud volume even though the lyrics are degrading of woman” (Gsy 173). In this example Gay says that even though she’s a feminist she still listens and partakes in behavior that would be considered not feminist, as an individual. As for my relationship of being a black woman I also decide to be an individual in my personality and display a array of different parts of me, despite the fact that I do not reflect the three archetypes of black woman given in the media, but in the end I am still proud to be a black woman.
In regarding my personal sense of identity, I again feel I am an individual black woman, and I don’t reflect the media’s representation of black women. The media and society will continue to reflect what they think black women are like, but I feel as if it is black women’s jobs to stop that media’s caricature, and create our own representation. In her passage, Gay states that she “would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all” (Gay 174). Gay explains how important it is to claim your belief even though you might not be the best at it. Therefore, I claim being a black woman even though my individuality and the individuality of so many other black women are not expressed in a variety of way in media.
In conclusion, in Gay’s passage Bad Feminist, Gay explains the essential feminist, finds her individual form of feminism, and ultimately claims feminism as her own. Regarding my identify as a black women I feel like it important to be educated about what the essential black woman is, actively decide to be an individual based on my own personality, and accept the fact that most of media does not show the variation of the black woman. As black women we should come together and inform each other of these stereotypes, and find ways to introduce variations of the black woman to media, and all together society.
Works Cited
Barrios, Barclay. Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writings, 3rd edition. Boston: Bedford, 2016.
Gay,Roxane, “Bad Feminist”. Barrios, Barclay pp. 168-177