Feminist Killjoy Handbook:The Radical Potential of Getting In the Way

Feminist Sara Ahmed talks shares thoughts on how happiness, comfort, and complacency — ours and others — to build a more just world. In the spirit of being a “feminist killjoy”, she advocates for being that person that refuses to awkwardly laugh at jokes that could be called out, ruining Thanksgiving dinner by speaking out against sexism, to be someone that isn’t bothered by being called “woke”. Being a special kind of “killjoy”. Through analyses of film, literature, and other works of feminism (as well as drawing from her own experiences), Ahmed reveals the importance and invaluable lessons that being contrarian to unjust status quos in our culture — from the effectiveness at a pointed rhetorical question against racism, to the power of the eyeball. She makes an intellectual case for the power of getting in the way — of bias and unjust prejudices.