10 years. A love letter to diversity workers. And gratitude for my complaint collective. substack.com/@feministkil...

Solidarity with the transgender & intersex communities in India after the Amendment Bill was bulldozed through houses of parliament replacing self-identification with mandatory medical certification. My #KilljoySolidarity with you in this fight. Friends, sign & fight! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I had to get this out. Mistakes probably. Solidarity always with all survivors of secrets. open.substack.com/pub/feminist...

Calling all killjoys in Boston, NYC, Philly and DC. Come along and say no loudly and together to the abusers and the harassers and the fascists and the systems they create that create them 🔥🔥

"To complain about abuse would be to complain to your abuser or to the colleagues or friends of your abuser, some of whom participated in the abuse, or to the institution that gave your abuser the power they abused, for whom your abuser is likely an investment, a person to be protected."

An abuser does not just have a network. An abuser is a network. When they have each other’s backs, their backs become doors.

It seems the phrase should be “men’s club talk” instead of “locker room talk” “The conversation was like being in a men’s club, you know.It was really offensive. They didn’t notice me.”The men at that table used the same words to describe women’s bodies that are much repeated in the #Epstein files”

I'm doing some prep for next week's Transcription for Racial Justice panel event (see link in next post) and the various bits of writing I want to produce to promote it and it's given me cause to revisit @saranahmed.bsky.social's fabulous blog. This post on the institutional as usual is just great:

"A complaint about an oppressive situation is used as evidence that a person is not really oppressed by a situation" (pp. 55) and other motivational insights and reminders by THE @saranahmed.bsky.social Annotating my copy with comments as a way to document, remember, complain, archiving. 💪

I am offline next week. I didn't quite manage to write a newsletter this week. Here's something from last week. Or maybe it was this week. Time is as surreal as the times we are in. With killjoy solidarity to everyone surviving and fighting imperial war machines. FKJ xx substack.com/@feministkil...

I had the absolute honour of having @saranahmed.bsky.social on Books Up Close! We talk about her new book, No is Not a Lonely Utterance. Listen wherever you get your shows! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

this is how things seem to work in so many jobs/businesses I recommend reading @saranahmed.bsky.social and @fromaleftwing.bsky.social if you need help coping with it in your realm

I'm thrilled to be presenting @arsavium.bsky.social & @pepepierce.bsky.social in conversation about their new books at @intellpublics.bsky.social with Audra Simpson!! Monday, Feb 23 at 6:30pm EST via Zoom webinar. @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social @dukepress.bsky.social register: bit.ly/gc-cuny-regi...

At Barnard College, dozens of faculty_circulated an open letter calling on the college to investigate & publicly address trustees’ past connections to Epstein,& urging the removal of Francine A. LeFrak’s name from campus buildings as well as her resignation from the board. archive.ph/2026.02.11-0...

«We need to name a problem in order to address it. But naming problems does not make them go away. And yet, naming matters. Complaining about problems does not make them go away, either. And yet complaining matters.»

"Ahmed’s @saranahmed.bsky.social conceptualising of knowledge, or more accurately, knowingness indicates that @ its core are 2 aspects: agency and authority Whilst the subaltern often has the agency to speak, or be recognised, they lack or are denied the authority to be seen or heard (Spivak 1988)"

"When what you experience is part of the culture, you don’t identify it at the time you experience it… Clarity can be jarring because to see it is not only to see what you didn't see before. It's to see yourself not seeing it. The longer you take to see it, the harder it is to see it." - Sara Ahmed

It’s publication day for Ideas on Fire author Beans Velocci! Their new book Sex Isn't Real: The Invention of an Incoherent Binary is out now from @dukepress.bsky.social. 🥳 dukeupress.edu/sex-isnt-real #IoFAuthors

In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice and border abolition.

'In the UK, polishing is a national past-time. Shiny surfaces. Gloss. Gloss.' A killjoy new year message from @saranahmed.bsky.social feministkilljoys.substack.com/p/an-empire-...

No cheer for no cheer. Keep planting your rebellion! open.substack.com/pub/feminist...

My book, The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against Authoritarianism, will be out March 17, 2026 It is now available for pre-order from @princetonupress.bsky.social and other online booksellers! cart.press.princeton.edu/checkout/car... press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

I could write so many more letters. substack.com/@feministkil...

A new book from one of the most transformative scholars I ever read? Hell yes.

"I share examples of complaints that are performed in meetings or on stage, made into songs, turned into postcards, posters and prayers, pasted on placards and marched onto the streets. To get our complaints out of institutions, we might have to be sneaky as well as leaky. How perfectly queer."

Queer ears for my queer peers! Thanks to @divamag.bsky.social for sharing some of my opinions! diva-magazine.com/2025/12/18/i...

Coming up next Monday, December 8 at 6:30 eastern via Zoom webinar. Right on time! Registration details linked below!

That is such a feminist hope: to help many people be freer 💜

This is a horror story passed off as child's fable, from Grimm bro.s to colonial violence in residential schools, to universities' use of misogyny, racism & ableism against survivors & those protesting genocide. Chillingly unravelled by @saranahmed.bsky.social : open.substack.com/pub/feminist...

No! The Art and Activism of Complaining is being published by Feminist Press on April 7, 2026! We fill those speech bubbles: pop, snap, sizzle, shriek, scream, clatter, splatter! feministpress.org/collections/...

I wrote this post Cancellers on my newsletter last week before reading about Clanchy et al. Sigh. Solidarity to all those positioned as cancellers, esp. women of colour. substack.com/profile/1324...

"A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics"—Dems Win Elections Nationwide Despite Anti-Trans Ads www.erininthemorning... #transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

Can’t wait to listen 💜

The Complaint Apparatus open.substack.com/pub/feminist...

A huge thank you to @saranahmed.bsky.social for your book tour and kindly signing my book. Oh my word! If you can go, do. Sara’s such a wonderful writer and speaker, and it always feels like the audience cherishes her words and, of course, her. Details of the book and tour here.

Queer joy! Killjoy joy! Glitter & rage on every page! Thanks Sen for such a sparkly conversation ✨✨🪩🪩

Almost 60,000 women have signed this petition by @nionwomen.bsky.social women to say that the transphobes do not speak for them. Meanwhile the Daily Express front-pages seven transphobes, falsely claiming that they “represent women”. If they do not represent you. Please sign. notinourname.org.uk

I think this might be the first time I’ve ever done a public event in Sheffield! Calling all killjoys! Tonight with Erin Maglaque & hosted by Juno Books. www.outsavvy.com/event/29875/...

“One common strategy of mainstream political parties — adopting the same topics and rhetoric as the far-right — often backfires. Instead of reducing their appeal, it can amplify extremist narratives and legitimise their agenda.” We cannot defeat fascism by platforming it and debating on its terms.

so much more discourse about the compliance of Columbia, but the “agreements” of Penn & Brown set a dangerous precedent w relatively little push back, despite the fact that they ended free inquiry by legally mandating binary gender as an intellectual and spatial paradigm for university compliance

@saranahmed.bsky.social also radicalised me!⚠️ Living a feminist life helped me navigate everyday backlash back when I first started learning about feminism, activism & research. Sara's work continues to be as transformative & energising!

Don't threaten us with a good time, Daily Express.

We mourn. We rest. We renew our strength and commitment. Then we turn up again and again and again. Until liberation and accountability. We won’t forget. We won’t forgive. We can’t. For all our sakes! #FreePalestine

Loved listening to @saranahmed.bsky.social speak so movingly and poetically about some of the ideas behind her new book this evening at @lighthousebks.bsky.social