The F Word: Roxane Gay

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Күн бұрын

Launching our 2015 series on contemporary feminism, The F Word, Haitian-American writer Roxane Gay speaks with Maxine Beneba Clarke.
Their wide-ranging conversation covers the ideas behind Bad Feminist, inclusive approaches to feminism and activism, as well as the role of race, history and power in informing An Untamed State.
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Roxane Gay’s essay ‘Bad Feminist’ was described by the Guardian as ‘the most persuasive feminist recruitment drive in recent memory’: she argues for embracing the values of feminism, while admitting her own contradictions and imperfections as a feminist.
Her book of the same name - a vibrant, provocative, thoughtful collection of essays that blend pop culture, memoir, and politics - is similarly complex and nuanced.
Gay has also been a driving force in agitating to raise the profile of writers of colour, conducting a count of the books reviewed by leading publications. And her debut novel, An Untamed State, about a brutal kidnapping in Haiti and its gruelling aftermath, has been hailed as ‘riveting … smart, searing’ by the Washington Post.

Пікірлер: 27

@BriDaly 9 жыл бұрын

LOVE this woman! ***Raises glass***

@penswordam5487 9 жыл бұрын

She's coming over to speak at my school, AppState. I'm actually looking forward to it after learning about her and watching this vid right here.

@natalieannelima 9 жыл бұрын

Such an amazing interview.

@yaykat89 9 жыл бұрын

As a trans woman, I find her so relatable, inclusive, and amazing. :D

@UltraGaivalas 7 жыл бұрын

you forgot "vibrant" in your sentence

@Dothebamb 3 жыл бұрын

I absolutely love Roxane Gay, her sagacity and her humor. Thanks for this interview!

@user-ik1bk3go1e 6 жыл бұрын

Brilliant!

@emilyhancock3456 9 жыл бұрын

Love her :)

@yancuicrodriguez1913 6 жыл бұрын

Oh God, she's amazing

@bernagol154 9 жыл бұрын

Does anyone know what Germaine Greer said about transgender women? Why is Roxane saying she does not agree with Greer on that specific subject?

@emilyhancock3456 9 жыл бұрын

Berna Gol because Greer's views on the subject are trans-exclusionary/transphobic. Modern feminism is inclusive not exclusive

@bernagol154 9 жыл бұрын

Emily hancock so this is about sth Greer hasn't said, not on what Greer has said? (somehow I'm not convinced, help me out here :) )

@turquoiseturtle4938 8 жыл бұрын

+Berna Gol Greer said that trans-women will never truly be women because they don't know what it's like to have a smelly vagina. Therefore feminism should not be inclusive of trans-women. Idk something stupid like that.

@tomatosoul 9 жыл бұрын

8:00 is hilarious.

@mahavishnustravinskij 9 жыл бұрын

The media today that have the most equal represention of Earth habitants I do appreciate! They just ain't DECENTLY equal to humanity yet. I am not satisfied with current representation of human race in media. To me the majority of PEOPLE represented in figures of world population doesn't seem to COUNT in many other aspects!!!

@Marialla. 9 жыл бұрын

Why does she say "The Help" was so terrible? Maybe a few of its lines (as she pointed out) were somewhat thoughtless, but it wasn't a huge mess. It was thought-provoking. People in it were very complex. And if she can wryly forgive herself for being a "bad feminist", maybe she could find it in her heart to somehow forgive a sincere effort by an inadequate white writer to be a "bad anti-racist". I really think Stockett was doing the best she could. It seems harsh to skewer her for not getting it impeccably right.

@IndifferentSky 9 жыл бұрын

Marialla Yeah I hear you. What you appear to be missing (no worries) is the critique that these stories still center completely around white people, reduce people of color to helpless and they didn't even have meaningful conversations among themselves. Geoge Takai calls it "how white people solve racism".. We just have to acknowledge it's a movie by white people for white people about white persons' experiences with racism. As a woman of color she's tired of it. Also if she says it was awful, it probably really disempowered and dehumanized,( she said it was written as if the people were "unknowable" or "alien")- the characters of color. These are things that critiques point out that some of us have to see ( a few) before we get it. At this point, we should be familiar enough with the concepts to get these criticisms.

@lorienshannon9886 8 жыл бұрын

I think what you're also missing is that it's the story of an actual person that has been stolen by a white woman and passed off as something that she came up with. She's made a fortune from it and all the while the persons of colour to whom the story truly belongs have had no benefit whatsoever. Everything about it is a mess from the background of how it came about to the way in which the story was written. It's a WOC's story appropriated and turned into 'oh look how wonderful this white woman is'.

@Marialla. 8 жыл бұрын

IndifferentSky Hi, didn't see your message until just now. Thanks for sharing your insights. But I have to disagree that the book centers around white people, or writes the people of color to helpless or monochromatic. They were richly written. They had important personal details, families, relationships, opinions, frustrations, conversations, etc. They were not in any sense token or dehumanized. They were integral to the story. I'm not trying to be contrary, but did you read the book yourself or are you just reacting to how it seems it must be based on how she described it?

@Marialla. 8 жыл бұрын

Lorien Shannon I never heard before that the story was of a particular person. I did read in the introduction that it was loosely based on the author's experiences being raised in a household with a black maid. Do you know whose story it was, in particular? I would definitely not say it made the white woman look like the hero. The black maids who had the courage to share their stories were definitely painted as the real risk-takers, the real heroes. The white woman in the book who recorded their stories did not even think she deserved much credit, beyond that she could type it all up and edit it into a presentable form to be published. I really don't see what the big mess is. I do want to know if it is awful, but I need more details to understand. To me the white women kind of all looked like jerks who did not even recognize their own prejudice or privilege, including the main character (though she did eventually try to do better). The black women were all intricately human and full of every kind of human experience, not treated as shallow vessels at all.

@lorienshannon9886 8 жыл бұрын

+Marialla I will admit to not reading the book, I've only seen the movie. I refused to give the author my money after reading about how she stole the story. Ablene Cooper (remember the character Aibileen Clark) worked for Stockett's brother and the story is far too close to her own life story to be coincidental. Even Stockett's brother has backed Ablene Cooper on this. As for the way it denigrates WOC there are many things, including the description of "black like a cockroach". What POC would ever describe themselves in this manner. There are a myriad of positive things that could be used to describe black, or darkness. I however am not the authority on what is and isn't offensive to POC you need to ask them that. As Gay is a WOC I think it's incredibly important she is listened to, when she says it's a mess. There are many articles out there that can explain it to you far better than I have, I would suggest if you truly care, which it seems you do, that you go check some of them out.