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Roxane Gay, "Bad Feminist" - Coggle Diagram
Roxane Gay, "Bad Feminist"
Exigency
The pressure to do feminism 'right', so...
The pressure to not be a 'stereotypical' woman and...
The feeling that if you are to any degree, you're not a proper feminist
Argument
There is no 'proper' way to do feminism.
Feminism is being against unequal treatment of women, not being a specific person
Purpose
To encourage women to feel comfortable with who they are, even if it breaks the 'rules' of feminism. or...
To be comfortable with how other women are, without judgement.
Audience
Women who judge themselves for not being a 'good' feminist
Or who judge others for not being a 'good' feminist
Rhetorical Choices
Being vulnerable, which forms a connection with the audience and encourages them to be vulnerable as well
Openly discussing her own previous flawed beliefs and misconceptions, demonstrating that growth is possible
Constraints
She had to be comfortable with vulnerability and being open with criticism, as well as what people may think of her.
She had to get her message across to women that might look down on 'bad' feminists. To do so, she expressed her own struggles that came with trying to be a perfect feminist and emphasized the importance of feminism for the movement for equality, and the harm that the pressure to be a perfect feminist brings to this movement.
Section #1
Gay starts by saying, right out the gate, that she is a bad feminist. That she does feminism 'wrong'. That a lot of what she does goes against it. At first it sounds like she's criticizing herself.
Section #2
She lists her thoughts, somewhat adhering to the 'rules' of feminism, but immediately contradicts them, breaking those 'rules'. She wants to be independent, but also to be taken care of. She's offended by rap, yet listens to it in the car. She justifies these thoughts: "Who wants to grow up?", "I'm mortified by my music choices". It's as if she reluctant to admit these aspects about her.
Section #3
Gay continues, the need to justify her thoughts appearing to die down. She embraces her interests--pink, Vogue, dresses (especially maxis), shaved legs, men, diamonds, weddings, babies... She doesn't care for cars or traditionally masculine chores.
Section #4
Then she shifts into her worries. She's scared of dying alone without a partner or child, scared that she spends too much time on her career. She doesn't feel succesful enough. She struggles with her sense of self. She isn't a 'good' feminist.
She admits how she pretended to not have these worries for the longest time, how she tried so hard to be the perfect feminist, but it just wasn't
right
.
Section #5
It's then that Gay embraces her role as a 'bad' feminist. She discusses how feminism is about the movement, about being for inequality. How the idea of a perfect feminist is a myth--something that women shouldn't be expected to attain to be considered a feminist.
Feminism is necesarry, she says, and if you need to be a 'bad' feminist to be comfortable in who you are, then so be it. "I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all".