09-06-2019 ROXANNE GAY

In Bad Feminist, the author, Roxanne Gay, shares some general ideas about self expression and passion with the author of My Son: The Prince of Fashion, Michael Chabon. For example, both writers try to dissipate the respective stereotypes that they explore in their individual writings through an almost humorous portrayal of the stereotype in question. Gay takes on challenging the very common essentialism associated with being a feminist. She attacks this in a mildly aggressive by calling out a woman who commented on an essay that she wrote about a famous comedian and his rape jokes saying that Gay was just “an ‘angry blogger woman,’ which [to Roxanne Gay,] is simply another way of saying ‘angry feminist’” (Gay). While Bad Feminist explains the negative connotations associated with feminism, in his writing, Chabon goes into discussing his son in such a way that the reader can, though not directly stated, imply all of the negative aspects associated with being a young boy who loves fashion. He chooses to combat these negatives by lifting his son up with positives and explaining how he doesn’t fit into the bad stereotypes.