Roxane Gay Article Summary

Improved Essays
At the beginning of Roxane Gay’s article, it tends to describe the conflicts of her definition and the others’ definitions on feminist. As for performative acts and gender constitution, generally and traditionally, wrongly performing one’s gender means a series of indirect and obvious punishments, however, well performing it provides the reassurance for the individual’s identity and gender. That’ s the main argument Roxane is making. She feels the tension and she’s not committed to the gender norm, but believe in what she chooses to be.
As for the first paragraph, Roxane illustrates her incomprehension towards the piece of article written by Judith Butler, which describes feminist as the regulated roles as well as specified acting model of female and
…show more content…
However, Steve emphasized that his unmatched hat, which is knitted in pinks and browns and blues and oranges and lime green by Barbara Sullivan. He’ s arguing about racial profiling and the lack of basic rights of black people. Due to racial profiling, so many people are being targeted, discriminated, even murdered by police for being black.
A piece of Steve’s article says, no one made eye contact with him and people look at him like he’s a criminal, except one black woman further down the block. That’s to say, not only the police, but also the public do have racial profiling. The reality is that there’s the only black woman understanding the grief.
Steve said, “Nothing I am, nothing I do, nothing I have means anything because I fit the description.” That’s so sad to read the three nothings, which also illustrate the status of black people at that time. The black people are unfairly treated. What’s more, the word choice usually plays an important role to express pathos and “nothing” is telling unfair status for black people in

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Emily Skidmore in her excerpt Constructing the “Good Transexual” Christine Jorgensen Whiteness and Heteronormativity in the Mid-Twentieth-Century Press published by Feminist Studies 37 covers the role that race, class, as well as heteronormative behavior play in the public perception of trans individuals. In her work, Skidmore utilizes many different stories of transgender females including one of the most iconic figures of transexuality in America, Christine Jorgensen. Throughout the passage she references Jorgensen as the model of a “good transexual” and how her acceptance for the most part had to do with her alignment with heteronormativity as well as her race and social status. To further prove her point she utilizes the stories of transwomen…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Issue of Racial Profiling Throughout the world, still today in the year 2017 there are still people who are racists, or people who think of different racists as less superior than other ones. In many cases this can be a bad thing to racial profile, because you don’t know if the person is a straight A student, full time worker, or even if they have children at home. In Staples case he was a student at the University of Chicago, when he was walking behind a white woman, she glared at him a couple times, then proceeded to speed up because she thought he was some sort of criminal or something.…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mental health issues affect a large number of people, and become more rampant with other factors such as economic status, race and oppression. Society expects a man to be strong, and working to bring home money. While the woman is supposed to be the homemaker, mother to and take care of the house, the family, and her husband. Those regarded outside the gender binary are further discriminated for not applying themselves to a gender role and having a different gender association or not going with the gender and the role they were assigned at birth. These stereotypes and expectations on people due to their gender and gender identity, then impact their mental health.…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the first chapter, “Untangling the “F”-word” the author, Kirk makes an accurate description of what feminism is. It also goes through the timeline of women fighting for their liberation/ Then it lets on the accomplishments completed by women such as the right to vote, divorce, custody of their children, etc. There is also waves of feminism. The first wave being early on in the 1840s-1920s which indicates their effort to gain legal rights.…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the dictionary, racial profiling is defined as “the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of committing an offense” (Oxford Dictionary). However, racial profiling goes way deeper than a simple explanation. Racial profiling has torn apart many communities and has led many innocent people to be looked at through a negative view. It is very likely to see a person of the African American race being the one accused of committing a said crime on the news. Everyone has heard the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover.”…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminism, the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities (Webster), has changed in so many ways since the 1960s. In the 1960s, women were expected to marry in their early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote her life to homemaking. (Tavaana) Now, in the 21st century, women are expected to get a job and virtually do everything a man does. In 50 years, feminism has came a long way and continues to improve/change even today.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In the U.S., racism stands out as a sophisticated dilemma that has affected the country for many centuries. Racial profiling can be termed as the act of targeting or suspecting people considering observed group characteristics instead of taking an individual perspective. This practice is common in the U.S., especially in the police force. Minority groups have for a long time been profiled by police officers regarding crime and other violent behaviors. The African American community is highly linked with these facets.…

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history, society has looked at the role of woman with a domestic and submissive perspective. Women were the property of men, and were there to pleasure him, bear his children, and relieve him of the domestic duties. Throughout time the role of women in society has evolved; however, women still struggle to have full control of their own bodies. As Adrienne Rich said (Of Women Born):"Women are controlled by lashing us to our bodies. " The theme of women being lashed to their bodies has been evident in America from the 1800’s until the 1970’s, as women have fought to gain the right to their own bodies and is still evident today as women continue to battle against patriarchal control of their bodies by the government and media.…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This approach to literature is controversial, in that some scholars say that the feminist criticism does not exist. Another critique is the lack of “a rigidly defined methodology” in feminist criticism. Some critics claim that the study of sex roles and stereotypes “can become a shallow survey of existing types and no more than that” (Schweickart). While there are no specific rules, there are some common ideals in feminist criticism. Patriarchy has different connotations for both genders.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Movement throughout the text Angels in America occurs repeatedly when character experience exposure to different identities. The development of characters in the text require acceptance of their own privileges and disadvantages. Roxane Gay, a feminist and writer, writes in her piece entitled Peculiar Benefits highlights the essence of privilege within identities, “You need to understand the extent of your privilege, the consequences of your privilege, and remain aware that people who are different from you move through and experience the world in ways you might never know anything about”. Gay wants individuals to understand conveys the message that privilege must be acknowledged. In order to progress in the society their must be acceptance…

    • 2443 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a narrative that retells the events leading up to the death of Santiago Nasar. Throughout the novella, there are many instances in which a man is in a place of power, however, the female characters often are denied this opportunity. Power can be defined as having the ability to stand up for yourself or others, make your own decisions, and having an important role in society. It is the sole characteristic that differentiates men from women in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Despite the few instances where women are placed in positions of power, Gabriel Garcia Marquez effectively proves that women are depicted as powerless through the use of machismo throughout the story, integrating Colombian gender roles…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial profiling is an expanding issue all through the country. Brent Staples explains in “Black Men and Public Space” people are prejudiced towards others of different races, especially black males. Staples is a dark skin man who has faced racial challenges. He has been noticed by others as being a criminal, various people feared Staples. People would take a look in his direction and see danger just by the way he walked, and dressed around the city.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Miss Representation is arguing that women are stereotypically portrayed in mainstream media causing negative consequences for young women, hence the use of the word “Miss” in the title. The documentary discusses the language used to describe women in media and how this language plays into the derogatory view of women. They gave an example of whether the word “stated” or “complained” was used to describe a woman’s comments in an article vs. a man’s comments. The language used will determine how the world perceives her; moreover, a man will have “stated” something and a woman will have “complained” about something, in the same article. Women today can no longer embody all the complexities of a human being and instead are put into categories “sexy…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Theorists like Micheal Foucault and Judith Butler have provided great insight on various topics and critiquing what does not get questioned. Foucault has inspired Butler when it comes to the topics of gender and sex. Butler challenges the ideas that have been inculcated in our own culture by exposing the truth behind what is considered normal and critiquing the binaries in society. Queer theory is important to address because of the lack of knowledge our society has on queerness. Butler’s ideas on queerness and gender will not only empower others, but it will help social workers in their practice.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frailty, thy name is woman”- Hamlet The above quote from hamlet clearly states the position of women in a patriarchal society. Woman are considered physically and morally weak. They are considered as beings of less intelligence and have lesser understanding of the world. According to (Z., 2011) , studies related to heroines of any play are somewhat underrated, even though the plot is strengthened due to female characters.…

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays