After reading Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay, I noticed a majority of her points were ones that I believed but never really knew how to to put to words. Gay discusses not only feminism and it’s importance, but also the backwards motion that certain feminist ideals have put women in. She does an excellent job at pointing out the categorization that comes with the label of being a “feminist” and why these labels and stereotypes are harmful for women with the goal of gender equality in mind. Gay recognizes that modern day feminism has fallen into a strict ideal with right and wrong ways to be a feminist. A perfect representation of this was when Gay stated, “The most significant problem with essential feminism is how it doesn’t allow for the complexities of human experience or individuality. There seems to be little room for multiple or discordant points of view” (Gay pg 2). Gay wonderfully examines the ideals of a modern feminist and how these set characteristics are exactly what women were working away from but eventually came full circle. Women are complex and intelligent and every single one is different but when we start to box ourselves into these categories and perfect representations, we lose sight of that complexity. In today’s day and age, being a feminist has developed a different meaning: successful women who power through life and reject all aspects of being a “traditional” woman. An angry, loud, enthusiastic, all-or-nothing woman who works harder than others and lets nothing get in her way. But not everyone wants to or has the opportunity to do so. Gay asserts a powerful idea that if this is how feminists are supposed to act and present themselves as, then that makes me a bad feminist. Feminism shouldn’t revolve around perfection and success but liberation. Women today are still working towards basic ideas like equal pay and treatment in the workplace, fair action surrounding abuse and sexual assault in the justice system and overall, as she words it, not being treated like shit. I myself have always questioned where I stand in the world of feminists and whether or not I fit into the ideal Gay describes. After reading Bad Feminist, I’m starting to realize that maybe I shouldn’t worry so much about fitting into those ideals. I’d like to say this piece made me even more of a true feminist, but maybe that’s not what one should be aiming for at all. Perhaps I’m okay with being a bad feminist.