Roxane Gay Quotes

If I can mean to people - if I can symbolize the ability to pursue gender equality, racial equality, and to be truthful about our experiences, then, absolutely, that's what I want to be.

I'm a woman, so I'm going to be woman as much as I can.

People love to see themselves on screen in a way that makes sense and seems on point.

The women's movement burst forth when I was fifteen. That was when I began to believe that life might semi-work out after all. The cavalry had arrived. Women were starting to say that you got to tell the truth now, that you had to tell the truth if you were going to heal and have an authentic life.

We must tell girls their voices are important.

I don't care about controversies. I am a young woman with an opinion about certain things. I can't be diplomatic. I am a feminist, and as long as I can be the voice of hundreds of girls out there, I will speak my mind. I don't care what other people think.

I know one of the reasons I first started making Youtube videos was because no one looks like me.

I am a feminist, and I define myself: Be yourself, because if you can get away with it, that is the ultimate feminist act.

We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.

If we don't tell our own stories, no one else will.

Now I've devoted my life to making sure that I can be a trailblazer for any other African American kids or any other gay kids or any other kids that just feel weird or uncomfortable and have their own issues and don't know how to express themselves. I want to be like a beacon for those kids now.

I grew up watching cinema in my country that wasn't telling stories about us, and we had to find a way to connect, and our references, our role models had nothing to do with us. And I'm so glad that it's changing.

Holding women to the idea of 'write what you know' subtly reinforces the status quo. Writing is a chance to celebrate who we are. But it's also a chance to celebrate who we could be.

It's so important for women to create images of women - or any group, at that.

I just want other women to be able to see themselves in the music.

I write for my people.

I never set out to write a book to change women's lives, to change history. It's like, 'Who, me?' Yes, me. I did it. And I'm not that different from other women. Maybe my power and glory was that I could speak my truth as a woman and it was the truth of every woman.

I'm like a bit of a feminist, I have kinds of highly political dreams. I'm a dreamer about taking on the patriarchy and all that kinda stuff. So I actually have the secret belief that there are enough people who would consider themselves quote-unquote "other" to support my particular taste.

Every woman who appears wrestles with the forces that would have her disappear. She struggles with the forces that would tell her story for her, or write her out of the story ... The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory, already a revolt.

I definitely think women are running it right now. We are not afraid to speak our minds. It's exciting because that's what I stand for, for people to be irreverent and to be themselves.

It's important for Asian American kids to see themselves in stories and to feel seen. They need to know that their stories are universal, too, that they, too, can fall in love in a teen movie. They don't have to be the sidekick; they can be the hero.

For me, like, obviously, I want to see myself onscreen.

I'm proud to carry that torch and be like, 'I'm gay! I'm black! Hang your dreams on me. Hang your hopes on me. I'll carry them to the best of my ability.'

'Essence' is political. I grew up on the magazine, looking at the covers. Seeing ourselves on the cover is political.

I think the best thing is having a voice and being able to give people a different perspective and a different opinion and voice my emotions and how I feel. To be heard by people, it feels good.