Summary

Roxanne Gay entrenches her introduction about feminism(s) in the current climate of fast paced social, cultural, and political change. Gay cites large scale women’s rights issues as evidence of a harrowing climate of change. Gay focuses on demeaning media portrayals of women, alluding to the male focus of cinematic narratives to show that female stories are often ignored. After asking the reader how to bring attention to these issues, Gay provides her own answer.

For Gay, the answer is feminism. Feminism offers “a way to navigate the shifting cultural climate” (x) despite its imperfections and blind spots. Gay criticizes the tendency to conflate the failings of celebrity feminist leaders with failings of feminism as a philosophy and reminds the reader of the difference between feminism and feminist leaders. "In truth," she says, "feminism is flawed because it is a...