Feminist writer, professor, editor, and commentator, Gay works as an associate professor of English at Purdue University, regularly writes articles for the New York Times, is the founder of Tiny Hardcore Press, essay editor for The Rumpus, and a co-editor at PANK, an organization non-profit literary arts collectives. Much of her work tries to analyze and deconstruct feminist and racial issues through the lens of her personal experiences with race, gender identity, and sexuality.

She is the author of the collection of short stories Ayiti (2011), the novel An Untamed State (2014), the collection of essays Mala feminista (2014) and Hunger (2016). She also edited the book Girl Crush: Women’s Erotic Fantasies. In addition to his regular contributions to Salon and the late HTMLGiant, his writings have appeared in numerous media and publications including Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, Mc Sweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, West Branch, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, Bookforum, Time, Los Angeles Times, The Nation and the New York Times Book Review.