Not That Bad

Dispatches from Rape Culture

De: Roxane Gay

Narrado por: Roxane Gay, Brandon Taylor, Emma Smith-Stevens, A.J. McKenna, Lisa Mecham, Vanessa Martir, xTx, Sophie Mayer

Edited and with an introduction by Roxane Gay, the New York Times best-selling and deeply beloved author of Bad Feminist and Hunger, this anthology of first-person essays read by all 30 contributors, including Gabrielle Union, Ally Sheedy, and Lyz Lenz, tackles rape, assault, and harassment head-on.

*Vogue, “10 of the Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2018”

*Harper’s Bazaar, “10 New Books to Add to Your Reading List in 2018”

*Elle, “21 Books We’re Most Excited to Read in 2018”

*Boston Globe, “25 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018”

*Huffington Post, “60 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018”

*Hello Giggles, “19 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018”

*Buzzfeed, “33 Most Exciting New Books of 2018”

In this valuable and revealing anthology, cultural critic and best-selling author Roxane Gay collects original and previously published pieces that address what it means to live in a world where women have to measure the harassment, violence, and aggression they face, and where they are "routinely second-guessed, blown off, discredited, denigrated, besmirched, belittled, patronized, mocked, shamed, gaslit, insulted, bullied" for speaking out. Contributions include essays from established and up-and-coming writers, performers, and critics, including actors Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union and writers Amy Jo Burns, Lyz Lenz, and Claire Schwartz.

Covering a wide range of topics and experiences, from an exploration of the rape epidemic embedded in the refugee crisis to first-person accounts of child molestation, this collection is often deeply personal and is always unflinchingly honest. Like Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me, Not That Bad will resonate with every listener, saying "something in totality that we cannot say alone".

Searing and heartbreakingly candid, this provocative collection both reflects the world we live in and offers a call to arms insisting that "not that bad" must no longer be good enough.

The full list of narrators includes: Roxane Gay, Gabrielle Union, Ally Sheedy, Amy Jo Burns, Lyz Lenz, Claire Schwartz, Aubrey Hirsch, Jill Christman, Lynn Melnick, Brandon Taylor, Emma Smith-Stevens, A.J. McKenna, Lisa Mecham, Vanessa Mártir, xTx, Sophie Mayer, Nora Salem, V.L. Seek, Michelle Chen, Liz Rosema, Anthony Frame, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Miriam Zoila Pérez, Zoe Medeiros, Sharisse Tracey, Stacey May Fowles, Elisabeth Fairfield Stokes, Meredith Talusan, Nicole Boyce, and Elissa Bassist.

©2018 Roxane Gay (Compilation and introduction) (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Such a powerful and necessary collection!" (AudioFile)

Shakes you to the core

If you ever wondered how a rape survivor feels and deals with it, here it is laid out in gut wrenching , searing honest essays from survivors. I am sure these stories will stay with me for years to come and for that i commend author for coming up with this anthology.

Good book!

Definitely could be triggering to some but content is needed and necessary. This book is very important.

Glimpse into the reality of rape.

This book grabs you by your heart and never lets go until you’re done. I would recommend this to everyone in our society.

painful but important

I'm thankful for the authors for sharing their stories to drive awareness of different forms in which sexual violence and abuse can manifest. there's a great range of writing here. some authors share detail, others approach their stories with more restraint, all of them are poetic in their own way. all of them shed light on the complex journey of healing. I think this book will help listeners be able to engage with survivors with more appropriate sensitivity and empathy.

tough but necessary

I hate that books like this have to exist but I'm grateful that this one does. All of the essays were powerful but the last one will stay with me forever and should be required reading for all high school aged kids, who should read it again while at university and then again post college and at least twice a year after that.

I also appreciated Roxane's explanation of "not that bad" I've often said this to myself and other women...I am ashamed of this fact. thank you for highlighting why it is all that bad.

very enlightening

this book is for everyone. men, women, old and young should listen to it and discuss it.

Healing

I'm a female combat fighter. I have been for several years. Often times, this means I show up to places covered in bruises, especially on my arms and legs and this can draw attention. Sometimes it's the boxing gloves hanging in my car or the Muay Thai tattoo on my shoulder that draws attention. Either way, I get asked about it a lot, especially by women. The reaction is almost always the same about how bad ass or cool or whatever it is that I fight. Most of the time I also get asked if I spar and train with men. I always answer that most of the people I train and spar with are men, most of them larger and stronger than me. The last time a woman asked me about my fighting, she told me how cool it was that I could protect myself because she had been raped 30 years ago and she wished she could have protected herself. I get variations of this a lot. A lot of times, this opens a conversation and I try to just listen. For whatever reason, a lot of women find it safe to confide in a stranger what they probably haven't told some of the closest people in their lives. I'm an assault survivor. Most of the people in my life have no idea. I find it easier to confide in strangers, too. That's what this book feels like to me. Beautiful, brave women who, for whatever reason, found solace in confiding in a stranger. As I listened to this book, I found it healing in the same way I find it healing when other women confide in me. I also tell the women who confide in me that it isn't their fault. Sometimes, I think that's what they're looking for. If only they could've protected themselves, this wouldn't have happened. If only this or that, it wouldn't have happened. It doesn't matter if only. It's not your fault.

Much needed when invalidation is so rampant

I highly recommend this book to anyone doubting whether their experience “counts.” My own experiences have all left me feeling silly for labeling them r***, and it was so connecting and humanizing to listen to all of these accounts of people with ranging experiences and to know I’m not alone in my feelings. Most stories focus so heavily on the really violent cases, and this did not. I think it reaches a much, much wider audience of people. Thank you!

Essential listening

Essential reading. I recommend listening, though — each writer narrates their own entry, and their voices add so much to the telling that I can’t imagine experiencing the book any other way (although I got the Kindle version, too). The essays are not about the rapes and assaults themselves but generally about how the writers dealt with the aftermath. It's all so nuanced and powerful. Most writers didn’t tell anybody, let alone report, what happened — although there’s one particularly memorable essay where a teenage girl tells everyone and no one believes her. This book couldn't help but make me think about those who say America doesn’t have a rape culture and point to a country where women are stoned to death for being raped — “Now that’s a rape culture,” they say. In this book, so many of the women downplayed their own trauma because at least it wasn’t as bad as if it'd been a stranger with a gun, a gang rape, or a murder, too. Their suffering was prolonged because they couldn't stop thinking of others who had it worse. The suffering caused by this country’s pervasive sexual violence and aggression will continue as long as people are given credence who say it’s not that bad compared with what’s happening over there. Grade: A

Hear this now.

Heartbreaking and familiar. Somehow reassuring amid all of the terrible. Worth every minute. Worth every tear. Feels like hearing, "it's not just you."