“Bad Feminist” can be described as a piece that a lot of women can relate to. Navigating around the complex subject of feminism is difficult, especially in a society that likes to condemn those that find the meaning behind it empowering and comforting. This type of environment is spoken about throughout Gay’s work and she goes more into depth about feminism itself and the different ways we’ve come to interpret it. This piece also suggests that it is more difficult to be able to express such ideals as the standards for feminism wavers from person to person, which Gay speaks about frequently in the article.
What is important to note is that feminism is an idea of self expression and self-definition, however one chooses to express it is their own decision. However Gay notes in this article that women have almost policed the term too much and have set up what Gay describes as ‘essential feminism.’ She goes into it saying, “There is an essential feminism, the notion that there are right and wrong ways to be a feminist, and there are consequences for doing feminism wrong.” (Gay, 163) This type of thinking destroys any room for other types of ideas of feminism. She further speaks about how society has treated the idea of feminism to the point where we feel ashamed to even be called a feminist. Gay at one point saying “I sometimes cringe when someone refers to me as a feminist, as if I should be ashamed of my feminism or as if the word feminist is an insult. The label is rarely offered in kindness.” (Gay, 163).
The title of the piece itself is called “Bad Feminist” because it stems from the idea that the enviornment we live in causes for some like Gay to think they aren’t living up to the correct standards of being a feminist and therefore are considered a “bad feminist.” A lot of this reading suggest that its difficult for self expression and self definition to flourish due to the toxic environment we live in which stems from people categorizing women as “angry instead of passionate.” (Gay, 163). That’s not to say that it’s not impossible for women to feel empowered and be able to flourish but I believe this reading does suggest that the conditions in which the ability to express oneself is not as easy as other conditions might be.
If we didn’t have women essentially putting each other down and excluding each other from the umbrella of feminism then the conditions might be different. Gay brings up her concerns in regards to the exclusionary aspect of feminism and mentions how “a continued insensitivity toward race is a serious problem in feminist circles.” (Gay, 165) Which brings up a good point, are people not wanting to identify under the umbrella of feminism because the conditions created not only by society are toxic but by women essentially judging other women as well?
