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Readers need to stop assuming characters are white if race isn't explicitly defined.

Roxane Gay

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Roxane Gay
Age: 50
Born: 1974
Born: October 15
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Scrabble Player
Writer
Omaha
Nebraska
Race
White
Explicitly
Character
Readers
Need
Assuming
Needs
Defined
Characters
Reader
Stop

More quotes by Roxane Gay

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Truth can hurt so very much.
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There's certainly a portion of my brain that is always tuned to making wry observations about the world, but that portion of my brain was alive and well before Twitter.
Roxane Gay
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I wrote myself back together. I wrote myself toward a stronger version of myself . . . Through writing and feminism, I also found that if I was a little bit brave, another woman might hear me and see me and recognize that none of us are the nothing the world tries to tell us we are.
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Diversity in literature is, in part, about representation - who is telling the stories and who stories are told about.
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I love Twitter. It doesn't keep me from writing and I think it's a really convenient scapegoat when the truth is that the real issue is self-control. I am totally fine admitting i have none. I'm not going to blame Twitter for affecting my writing. And also, Twitter doesn't affect my writing.
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If I cannot rest and relax, all the work I do is for naught.
Roxane Gay
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I write for myself, first and foremost and I also write for people, mostly women, who just want to be seen and heard and all too often aren't.
Roxane Gay
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When I write on Twitter, I do other things: I'm working, grading, or reading, and I'm procrastinating, and I'll pop on Twitter and be like, Hey, what's up? Yogurt's delicious.
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I'm fat positive, in that I don't see fat as a bad thing. But what I do see as a bad thing is how I'm treated. I can have the most positive outlook in the world, but that is not going to change how hecklers and people walking down the street are yelling at me.
Roxane Gay
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I am fine with my books being categorized as African-American literature but I hope they are also considered Haitian-American literature and American literature. All of these things are part of who I am and what I write.
Roxane Gay
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Nemeses aren't born. They are made.
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Just write and love what you're writing. And if you're not loving what you're writing, take a look at why and fix that.
Roxane Gay
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I see my tweets as a current joining a bunch of other currents in the world's craziest ocean.
Roxane Gay
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Oftentimes, when a woman demands accountability, respect, or consideration, she is crazy or nagging or whatever.
Roxane Gay
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So often feminism is built up as this thing where you have to be perfect. You have to be consistent and you can't ever deviate. That's just not realistic.
Roxane Gay
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My tweeting is cool and calm unless I am riled up about something and then I just surrender to the fury of my fingers.
Roxane Gay
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I was called a feminist, and what I heard was, 'You are an angry, sex-hating, man-hating victim lady person.' This caricature is how feminists have been warped by the people who fear feminism most, the same people who have the most to lose when feminism succeeds.
Roxane Gay
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You have to be consistent. You have to be yourself. You have to be committed to what you're doing. You have to not be afraid to be ambitious.
Roxane Gay
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What is it like to be connected to someone you can never get away from, for better or worse? I love trying to answer that question.
Roxane Gay
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I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I'm right. I am just trying - trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.
Roxane Gay