When Twitter does what journalism cannot -Ģ.5 stars Essays are one of my favourite literary genres and recently I've read some amazing essay collections that have introduced me to new ideas and new writing styles so perhaps I put overly high expectations on Roxane Gay's essay collection. The solace of preparing fried foods and other quaint remembrances from 1960's Mississippi: thoughts that help. The trouble with prince charming, or he who trespassed against us. The illusion of safety / the safety of illusion -ĭear young ladies who love Chris Brown. The careless language of sexua l violence. Reaching for catharsis: getting fat right (or wrong) and Diana Spechler's Skinny. To scratch, claw, or grope clumsily or frantically. The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.īad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better. In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink-all shades of pink. In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution a Pink is my favorite color. They are the lies that bind."įor this essay, show how you think with and respond to another writer.Pink is my favorite color. We need to reform them because, at their best, they make it possible for groups, large and small, to do things together. Yet these errors are also central to the way identities unite us today. They can be the enemies of human solidarity, the sources of war, horsemen of a score of apocalypses from apartheid to genocide. Much of what is dangerous about them has to do with the way identities-religion, nation, race, class, and culture-divide us and set us against one another.
#Roxane gay peculiar benefits discussion questions free
In the introduction to his book The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah states: "There’s no dispensing with identities, but we need to understand them better if we can hope to reconfigure them, and free ourselves from mistakes about them that are often a couple of hundred years old. Additionally, discuss what strikes you as significant about Gay’s understanding of privilege and why. In a carefully crafted and well-organized essay of 300-500 words, describe what you understand Gay to be saying about privilege. It may be hard to hear that, I know, but if you cannot recognize your privilege, you have a lot of work to do get started.”įor this essay, show how you think with and respond to another writer. If you are reading this essay, you have some kind of privilege.
We have smart phones and iProducts and desktops and laptops. We have the freedom to express our opinions without the threat of retaliation. We have disposable time and the ability to access the Internet regularly.
Among those of us who participate in intellectual communities, privilege runs rampant. Few people in this world, and particularly in the United States, have no privilege at all. At some point, you have to surrender to the kinds of privilege you hold because everyone has something someone else doesn’t. There is racial privilege, gender (and identity) privilege, heterosexual privilege, economic privilege, able-bodied privilege, educational privilege, religious privilege and the list goes on and on. In her essay, “Peculiar Benefits,” the African American writer Roxane Gay writes the following: “Privilege is a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor.