Bad Feminist

Trickle-down misogyny supports The Spectrum of Patriarchy theme. Gay uses the term explicitly in Essays 18 and 21, but the motif features throughout the text, illustrating the impact of those in authority—namely, politicians and celebrities—promulgating patriarchal ideology. While Gay questions the direction of influence between political culture and celebrity culture, there is no question of their influence on ordinary people—for example, the female fans of Chris Brown who say they would put up with abuse in exchange for his attention. Gay also calls attention to the personal impact of trickle-down misogyny, from entitled male behavior at Scrabble tournaments to sexual assault. The latter example points to the dire situation that trickle-down misogyny produces: Boys are socialized to violate women before they even reach adulthood. Thus, trickle-down misogyny explains the reach and success of patriarchal ideology’s oppression of women.

Related to trickle-down misogyny is the bad boys and bad behavior motif. Gay alludes to the motif in Essay 14 with the recollection of the middle school assault and in Essay 16 with the discussion of college and professional athletes being easily forgiven for criminal behavior. She explicitly uses the “bad boy” term in Essay 20 and 21 in reference to Chris Brown and Robin Thicke. The commonality is that bad boys rarely face consequences for their behavior and are sometimes outright rewarded for it; it is instead the victims of such behavior who bear the brunt and the public shaming. Thus, the motif contributes to the spectrum of patriarchy theme by illustrating the way that patriarchy distorts masculinity and male behavior, with women and others outside of the normative male standard as collateral damage. Furthermore, patriarchy and misogyny preclude the bad boy from gaining any self-awareness because the behavior is accepted as a norm.

Privilege and perspective is the most dominant motif of the text because it contributes to every theme. Gay makes it a point to include an essay on privilege in the section where she introduces herself, acknowledging the role it plays in her work. With that self-awareness, she is able to identify (and have some grace for) the role it plays in other creators’ work. One of Gay’s overarching messages is that people should be aware of their privilege. Then, if willing, they should do what they can to mitigate the impact of their privilege on those who are less fortunate. The other overarching message is that awareness of privilege and perspective is also awareness of the fullness and complexity of humanity. The complexity of oppression means that for whatever privilege someone holds, there is probably also some degree of marginalization. With that in mind, community care and building solidarity across difference becomes possible.

While Gay mentions respectability politics with regard to one of her students in Essay 1, it is the central subject of Essay 29. In both essays, it contributes to The Burden of Responsibility Placed on Marginalized People theme because Gay points out that Black people should not be held responsible for ending racist oppression. Respectability politics come up again with Gay’s discussion of how the media framed Travyon Martin’s normal teenage behavior as signs of criminality, contributing to the theme of Representation of Marginalized Identities. In addition, Tyler Perry promulgates respectability politics with his morality lessons for Black people generally and for Black women specifically.

This brings up a subtler form of respectability politics related to gender performativity. With the green girl and essential feminism discussions, Gay suggests that there are certain ways that girls/women and feminists are expected to behave, as though doing so will mitigate patriarchal oppression. In reality, the rigid behavioral guidelines only reinforce the patriarchy. The restriction of the marginalized’s expression also indicates that the motif contributes to theme of the fullness and complexity of humanity.