One of the reasons Gay gives for resisting the notion of essential feminism is its tendency to overlook issues involving race. In her article, Gay confronts the reductive-not to mention counterintuitive-nature of essential feminism and the exclusive stereotypes it produces, while addressing her own reservations towards embracing feminism itself. Gay, an American essayist and commentator, describes essential feminism as “the notion that there are right and wrong ways to be a feminist,” leaving those who do not live up to societal expectations feeling unfit or inadequate to identify themselves as such (pg. In her 2012 article “Bad Feminist,” published by VQR, Roxane Gay suggests that many of the tensions and negative connotations that accompany the term feminism can be attributed to a damaging, socially-constructed concept deemed essential feminism. Center for Literary and Comparative Studies.
