The feedback to that essay is some of the strongest feedback I’ve received on all of the essays. I didn’t expect a piece that starts off talking about The Hunger Games to transition into talking about personal trauma so seamlessly. Your essay, “What We Hunger For,” is a standout. Whenever a woman does something, we have to comment on it. I think we’re seeing a lot of that pushback. People are having a difficult time holding multiple opinions about Beyoncé at the same time. So what we’re seeing is a lot of discomfort, and people are confused because we don’t use a lot of nuance when we talk about our cultural figures when we’re either for them or against them. Whenever a woman owns her sexuality, it starts to make people uncomfortable. I think that Beyoncé is in a particular bind because she’s a big public figure and a role model and also, especially with her most recent work, very sexual and owning her sexuality. I think that anytime a woman is visible, she becomes a target. I’ve been thinking a lot about Beyoncé in the past year and how she gets policed for being a bad feminist or doing feminism “wrong.” Do you think she’s a particular target? “But I love men!” Who cares! It’s not about men at all. It’s ridiculous that we’re still having this conversation. We have to let go of these misconceptions that have plagued feminism for 40, 50 years. It’s about the equality of women in all realms. They start by understanding that feminism is just an idea. Where do you even start with trying to combat that ignorance? Mostly I just thought, “How sad that they’re this ignorant.” It’s really ignorance that’s at play here, more than anything else. And in many of the young women making statements, I saw women who were saying very feminist things. I disagree entirely and think feminism is what made it possible for them to make those kind of provocative statements. I thought it was absurd and sad, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

What did you think of the recent “Women Against Feminism” reaction happening on social media? But I think the more visible women that stand up and say, “I’m a feminist,” the better off feminism is going to be, and the better off women overall are going to be. If you don’t want to be a feminist and don’t want to claim feminism, that’s entirely your right. I mean, I would love for everyone to be a feminist, but I have to respect people’s choices.

It’s not something you want to force everyone to believe in. But you know, I think that it’s a choice. The value in that is it’s important for more women to claim feminism so people can understand that feminism really isn’t a bad thing or something we need to avoid or be afraid of.

Is there value in knowing whether young women in Hollywood identify as feminists? Privilege is something we’re increasingly talking about culturally because people are starting to say, “How do we acknowledge our privilege and acknowledge the ways in which we’re not privileged? How do we keep from stepping on each others toes?” It’s one of the many reasons why we’re having this conversation again. Roxane Gay: I try to pay attention to what’s going on in our culture, and a lot of the issues I write about are ongoing issues, so it’s always interesting to see those issues come back to the public’s attention over and over. TIME: You wrote these essays between 20, but some of them feel especially of the moment - I was reading your essay about privilege while the Internet was having a passionate debate about the topic. In it, she covers of range topics from pop culture to politics, from Fifty Shades of Grey and Sweet Valley High to Wendy Davis’ filibuster and the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant.īad Feminist, she explains, is about reconciling contradictions - how to ask tough questions about the world and feminism while still “admitting to our humanity and enjoying sometimes inappropriate things.” Gay talked to TIME about Beyoncé, how to define feminism and writing about trauma on the Internet.

The author released her riveting first novel, An Untamed State, back in May, and she already has a new book out: an entertaining and thought-provoking essay collection called Bad Feminist. Roxane Gay is the gift that keeps on giving.

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