Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates had a conversation about Coates’s Between The World And Me, which he describes as a personal essay in three parts, black bodies, discussing race and more:
“There is tendency in academia and in (some) social justice circles to make that which is oppressive distant and abstract. We use a language, which at times obscures what’s going on — racial discrimination, racial segregation, racial justice, etc. This sort of language eliminates the actual actions of actual people. It was deeply important to me to situate racism as a done thing: as a thing you actually feel. I should add that in my stripe of atheism, it’s very hard to see beyond the body. There is a tendency to adopt euphemism when confronted with the very real violence that comes with having a foot on your neck.”
Happy Monday! Here are some things to read while you drink your iced green tea and pretend to work!
Oh hell. I can’t do this. Normally I recap the entire movie but I simply cannot recap this entire movie. Fifty Shades of Grey is ridiculous because the book is ridiculous. I had fun, I laughed, and during the sexy scenes I pressed my thighs together (see: bad feminist).
The absurdities, however, were oh so many.
Writers can and should write across difference, so long as they do so respectfully, intelligently, with some degree of accuracy. They may not fully succeed, but a good-faith effort and a demonstration of empathy are generally all that is required.
Also.Also.Also: Political Women Don’t Need Broomsticks and Other Stories We Missed
Also.Also.Also: Political Women Don’t Need Broomsticks and Other Stories We Missed
Well I’m tired of all my Halloween decorations and I’m ready for it to be spring. How’s it going with you? Here’s some stuff we missed while I was glaring at that pile of pumpkins on the table!
You Should Give+ Monica Roberts needs our help after being evicted from her home with no resources. Donate!
Many of you know former contributor Monica Roberts. She’s a force of nature: the…
The Root 100 Features Our Favorites Including Roxane Gay, Janet Mock and Laverne Cox
The Root 100 Features Our Favorites Including Roxane Gay, Janet Mock and Laverne Cox
The Root has released its annual list of notable African Americans, and of course it includes some of our favorite movers, shakers and heartbreakers. The publication accepted more than 500 reader nominations that it condensed down into the people it felt “not only had standout years but also showed promise for shaping the future.” That means it includes not only obvious superstars like Beyoncébut…
Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” Reminds Us We’re All Human
Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” Reminds Us We’re All Human
Header by Rory Midhani
“I am failing as a woman. I am failing as a feminist. To freely accept the feminist label would not be fair to good feminists. If I am, indeed, a feminist, I am a rather bad one.”
Roxane Gay makes a variety of amazing points in her newly published book, Bad Feminist, not one of which makes me think she’s “doing it wrong.” (There were times where I bristled at her…
Also.Also.Also: Your Link Roundup Gets a New Host and Here Are the Stories She Missed This Week
Also.Also.Also: Your Link Roundup Gets a New Host and Here Are the Stories She Missed This Week
Hey, what do elephants have that nothing else has? That’s right BABY ELEPHANTS. Here are some of the stories we missed while I was saving this photo to my desktop!
Suguta, Kibo and Nchan playing at Tsavo National Park in Nairobi
Do This, Share This+ Black Girl Dangerous is putting together an Editor-In-Training program for queer and/or trans people of color! Submit your application by August 31,
Read a F*cking Book: Late Summer Reading For Queers and Feminists
Read a F*cking Book: Late Summer Reading For Queers and Feminists
In a recent essay on her bibliomania, Zadie Smith writes that summer is the most forgiving time of year for compulsive reading, as “the beach is one of the few places pathological readers can pass undetected among their civilian cousins.”
Regardless of the degree of your pathology, these brand-new and forthcoming books look both super exciting and also relevant to your interests. With essays, a…
I don’t even know what to say or do at this point. It all seems so inescapable—online harassment, street harassment, the microaggressions and the full on aggressions women face, the rampant sexual violence women face, and then our popular culture reflecting this sickening reality and asking us to consume it quietly, like good little girls.
I was a good girl for a long time and it never did me any good. We should all be done being good girls if it means swallowing sexist, toxic bullshit that will only continue killing us softly.
Roxane Gay via like good little girls