Jackson: Okay, confession time. I once told someone my favorite movie was Citizen Kane to sound smart. Olivia: What is it really? Jackson: Paddington 2. Unironically. And that feeling—that gap between who we are and who we think we should be—is exactly what we're talking about today. Olivia: That is the perfect entry point. Because that gap is where some of the most interesting and honest conversations begin. It’s the entire premise behind the book we’re diving into, Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist. Jackson: I love that title. It’s immediately intriguing. It feels like it’s giving you permission for something. Olivia: It is. And what’s so powerful about this book is its timing and its source. Roxane Gay, a queer Black feminist academic and novelist, published this collection of essays in 2014. This was a moment when social media was turning into a battlefield over who was a "real" feminist. The call-out culture was intense. Jackson: Oh, I remember that. The era of the purity test. If you weren't 110% aligned with a very specific set of beliefs, you were out. Olivia: Exactly. And into that fire steps Roxane Gay, who essentially says, "Let's be honest, it's messy. I'm messy. And that's where we need to start." She’s not writing from an ivory tower; she’s writing as someone who lives at the intersection of multiple identities and has seen firsthand how rigid ideologies can fail people. Jackson: That makes the title feel less like a confession and more like a declaration. But what exactly makes someone a 'Bad Feminist' in her eyes? Is it just about liking the 'wrong' things?

Olivia: That’s the brilliant starting point. It begins with personal taste, but it reveals something much deeper. Gay kicks off the book by dismantling the idea that there's a feminist uniform or a pre-approved list of interests. She has this fantastic quote where she just lays it all out. Jackson: I’m ready. Hit me with it. Olivia: She writes, "Pink is my favourite colour. I used to say my favourite colour was black to be cool, but it is pink – all shades of pink." Then she adds, "I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue." Jackson: I love that. It’s so direct. There's no apology in it. It's just a statement of fact. This is what I like. Olivia: Precisely. She’s challenging this unwritten rulebook that suggests a "good" feminist should be above such frivolous, commercial, or traditionally feminine things. She’s rejecting the stereotype of the humorless, man-hating academic who only reads dense theory. Jackson: It’s like being a 'bad' environmentalist because you occasionally forget your reusable shopping bags, but you still fundamentally believe in fighting climate change and do your part in other ways. Olivia: That’s a great analogy. Gay’s point is that this demand for ideological purity is a trap. It creates a culture of fear where people are afraid to even identify as feminist because they worry they’ll be policed by other feminists for not being "good enough." Jackson: And that policing is so counterproductive. It shrinks the movement instead of growing it. You end up with a tiny club of the ideologically pure, instead of a broad coalition of people who agree on the big stuff, like equality. Olivia: Exactly. Gay argues that feminism has a branding problem, partly because of this rigidity. She says she embraces the "bad feminist" label because she is flawed and human. She has contradictions. She believes in equality and wants to dismantle patriarchy, but she also loves catchy pop songs with deeply questionable lyrics. Jackson: Oh, I know that feeling. You're on the treadmill, bopping your head to a song, and then you actually listen to the words and think, "Oh. Oh, no. This is lyrically a dumpster fire." Olivia: Right? And Gay’s argument is: that contradiction doesn't invalidate your feminism. It makes you a person. She's creating space for imperfection. She would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all. The alternative, in her view, is silence and inaction. Jackson: That makes so much sense. So it’s not about lowering the bar for feminism, is it? It feels more like she’s making the door wider. Olivia: That is the perfect way to put it. It’s not an excuse for apathy or for causing harm. It’s an invitation. It’s a recognition that feminism is a journey, a process of constantly learning and unlearning, not a fixed destination where you finally achieve a state of perfect enlightenment. Jackson: And I imagine that wider door is especially important for people who have been historically left out of the conversation. Olivia: You’ve hit on the core of her entire project. That wider door is absolutely crucial, because Gay argues that the narrow doorway of 'perfect' feminism has, for decades, been shaped by and for a very specific group: primarily straight, white, middle-class women. And she shows us how this exclusion happens by turning her critical eye toward the one thing we all share: the pop culture we consume.

Jackson: Okay, so how does pop culture fit into this? How does she connect liking Vogue to these bigger systemic issues? Olivia: She uses it as a diagnostic tool. She argues that the stories we tell ourselves—through books, movies, TV shows—are incredibly powerful in shaping our expectations of the world, and especially of womanhood. She has this brilliant essay where she looks back on the Sweet Valley High book series. Jackson: Wow, that’s a throwback. The Wakefield twins, right? Perfect blonde hair, perfect size six, perfect life in California. Olivia: The very same. And as a young girl, Gay read these books voraciously. But looking back, she analyzes what they were teaching her. They presented a very narrow, idealized, and overwhelmingly white version of what it meant to be a successful girl. It was a world with no real problems that couldn't be solved in 100 pages, and it set up these impossible standards for beauty and social grace. Jackson: And if you're a young Black girl reading that, the gap between your reality and that "ideal" must feel enormous. It’s not just aspirational; it’s exclusionary. Olivia: It’s fundamentally exclusionary. And this is her point. Pop culture isn't just harmless fun. It’s a landscape where our values are forged. And for a long time, that landscape has been dominated by stories that sideline or completely ignore the experiences of women of color. This leads to her more biting critiques. The one that really stands out is her analysis of the movie The Help. Jackson: Oh, that’s a big one. That film was a cultural phenomenon. It was critically acclaimed, won awards, and was seen by millions as this powerful, progressive story about the Civil Rights era. Olivia: It was. And Gay acknowledges its good intentions. But she applies her critical feminist lens, specifically her intersectional lens that considers both race and gender, and she points out a massive problem. The story, which is about the lives and struggles of Black domestic workers, is ultimately told through the perspective of, and is centered on, a white character, Skeeter. Jackson: Right, the aspiring white journalist who collects their stories. The narrative positions her as the savior. Olivia: Exactly. The Black characters, Aibileen and Minny, are brave and compelling, but the structure of the film makes their liberation dependent on the intervention of a well-meaning white woman. Gay argues that this is a classic, and harmful, Hollywood trope. It sanitizes the brutal reality of racism and makes it more palatable for a white audience by centering a white protagonist they can identify with. Jackson: Wow. I have to admit, I never thought of it that way. I saw the movie and felt moved by the story. It’s genuinely uncomfortable to sit with the idea that a film I enjoyed might have also reinforced a harmful narrative. Olivia: And that discomfort is the entire point of Bad Feminist. Gay isn’t trying to make you feel guilty or cancel the movie. Her goal is to make you a more critical consumer of culture. She’s asking us to question: Who is telling this story? Who is the hero? And whose voice is being marginalized, even in a story that’s supposedly about them? Jackson: So what’s the takeaway then? Should we just stop watching these movies or reading these books? Olivia: Not at all. That would be the easy, but less effective, answer. Gay’s approach is more challenging. She suggests we should engage with it all—the good, the bad, the messy. Read Vogue, watch The Help, listen to the problematic pop song. But do it with your eyes open. Do it with a critical awareness. Understand what messages you’re absorbing, what ideologies are being sold to you alongside the entertainment. Jackson: So being a "bad feminist" isn't about checking out. It's about leaning in and thinking harder. Olivia: It’s about being constantly engaged. She talks about this concept of "trickle-down misogyny," the idea that the seemingly small slights and stereotypes in pop culture are directly connected to the larger, systemic political and economic inequalities women face. The two aren't separate. They feed each other. A culture that constantly portrays women in limited ways is a culture that will more easily accept laws and policies that limit them in real life. Jackson: That connects the dots in a really powerful way. It means that cultural criticism isn't just an academic exercise. It's a necessary part of the fight for equality. Olivia: It’s an essential front in the battle. And it’s a battle anyone can participate in, just by thinking more deeply about the media they consume every single day.

Jackson: You know, as we talk through this, my understanding of the title has completely flipped. I started out thinking "Bad Feminist" was a self-deprecating, almost apologetic term. But it’s not that at all. Olivia: How do you see it now? Jackson: It feels like a position of strength. It's not an excuse to be apathetic or uninformed. It’s actually a more demanding, active, and honest form of feminism. It asks you to hold your own contradictions, to be comfortable with messiness, and to commit to constantly thinking critically about yourself and the world around you. It’s harder than just following a simple rulebook. Olivia: That’s it exactly. It’s about choosing progress over purity. It’s about being willing to get it wrong, to learn, and to keep trying. Roxane Gay leaves us with this powerful idea that she is a "mess of contradictions," and that’s not a failure; it’s a reality. She says she’d rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all. Jackson: That feels like a much more sustainable and, frankly, more human way to approach any kind of social change. It leaves room for growth. Olivia: It does. It’s a feminism with grace, for yourself and for others. It’s a call to build a bigger, more resilient movement that has space for everyone—pink-loving, pop-music-listening, complicated people included. Jackson: And that really makes us wonder, what contradictions do you embrace in your own life? What makes you a "bad" something-or-other, in the best possible way? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Find us on our socials and share what being a 'bad feminist' means to you. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.