This essay was first delivered as a speech, and it has an anecdotal, conversational tone. Throughout the essay, Adichie weaves personal stories in with broader observations about gender and culture. In addition, she frequently uses humor to make her point. Her tone is informal, blunt, and direct. Early in the essay, for example, she declares herself to be “a Happy African Feminist Who Does Not Hate Men and Who Likes to Wear Lip Gloss and High Heels for Herself and Not For Men” (10). Rhetorically, this self-definition performs a few different functions. Its unwieldiness points to the amount of baggage that the word “feminist” often carries, even among feminists themselves, and it points to the elaborate, apologetic postures that women often assume to compensate for being assertive. It’s also funny because it’s capitalized—and therefore contradicts the stereotype that feminists have no sense of humor.

Adichie shows the degree to which such stereotypes are rooted in sexism. Feminists are often assumed to be angry, she observes, and anger is traditionally suspect in women; women are expected to be compliant and accommodating, while men are expected to be assertive and dominant.