To be made a fool of, to be silenced, to be shamed, or to stand for anybody’s bullshit. As Cooper explains, “Rage is a kind of refusal. Scholars Sara Ahmed and Brittany Cooper, drawing on Audre Lorde, inform us that the expression of feminist rage is not only healthy, but powerful. Situated at the nexus of feminist, queer, and Black Twitter, and transcending the usual routes to visibility such as the hashtag, Gay illustrates the powerful, if fraught, potential of Twitter. Reveling in the “ certain petty satisfaction in the ease with which one can dunk on trolls,” Gay has emerged as a superhero of sorts, a “feminist killjoy” avenger wielding her sharp words against trolls drawn to her expression of confidence, audacity, and rage. Billed Into Silence: Money and the Miseducation of Womenĭuring an appearance in Florida last fall, Roxane Gay noted that “The national conversation has shifted more towards listening and believing women when we say we have been harmed by toxic masculinity.” Gay herself has been instrumental in this shift, not only via her work as a university professor, a bestselling writer, and cultural critic, but notably from her throne as “Clapback Queen” on Twitter.
