Because, as everyone knows, protest works best when it's approved by the government. The entire judgement is based on a series of fairytales: about democracy, the benign nature of the state, the efficacy of polite, obedient and invisible protest and the harmonious course of English history.

If the Suffragettes were active today, there is not a shadow of a doubt that Keir Starmer's government would have banned them as a terrorist group, and insisted there are plenty of other ways in which women can register their dissent. Why don't they write letters to their MPs?

The Court of Appeal judgement on Palestine Action is frankly bonkers. It says PA is not "a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes operating transparently in the open." Right: the arson, bombings, slashings etc were all planned in open meetings in Parliament Square 🙄🧵

Every crime in which an ethnic or cultural minority is the perpetrator used to justify repression or worse of minorities. Every crime in which a minority is the victim used to argue for the idea that ethnic diversity is inherently unstable and should be reduced or eradicated.

“Who else becomes an also? The barely mentioned? After thoughts? To become a stranger, sometimes, is to remain in the shadows, at the edges of social experience, not registered as living and breathing. Until.” So relatable and heartbreaking 💔

Wow, I can't believe Labour's tactic of yelling "DON'T VOTE FOR THESE GREEN CUNTS, THEY'RE DANGEROUS, VOTE FOR US, WE HATE IMMIGRANTS IN A BETTER WAY THAN REFORM!" hasn't led to them keeping all their council seats.

These are extraordinary findings for the High Court to make. Hard to see how the so-called Office for Students can survive in its current form.

I’m joining the campaign to Defend Our Juries - Take action here: www.defendourjuries.net

It's a year today since the Supreme Court decision on the meaning of "sex" under the Equality Act 2010. Jolyon Maugham and I have written a reflective piece with our thoughts on the judgment, everything that has happened since, and why it's so important that we are still fighting - together 👇

You can give me just one of those millions, I promise my viewpoint would bring some diversity to Harvard

If you are a cis woman who is opposed to being used as a pretext for establishment transphobia and trans exclusion please sign this petition by @nionwomen.bsky.social. Now fewer than 300 signatures needed to get it past 100,000! notinourname.org.uk

When it comes to sexual assault, asylum, domestic violence, the structural reality is that people (especially migrant women) are faced with great suspicion, scrutiny, and stigma for making such claims. Any reporting that obscures this reality only further institutionalises racist, sexist inequality.

Forgot Alt text. Feminist killjoy cake!

Feminist Killjoy cake!

Watch author Sara Ahmed discuss "No!: The Art and Activism of Complaining" at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C. Ahmed is in conversation with Soraya Chemaly, an award-winning writer and activist whose work focuses on the role of gender in culture, politics, religion, and media.

On May 2nd, I'm hosting a one-day writing conference for memoirists at Rutgers! Our keynote speaker is Kimberlé Crenshaw and other guests include Alexander Chee, Mira Jacob, Lauren Hough, Kelly Sundberg, Savala Nolan and Mary HK Choi. I hope you can make it! ce-catalog.rutgers.edu/coursedispla...

Last event on mini book tour today! A community discussion: a chance to sit with each other and the work 💜

Thinking back. So many no tales. And trails. In my 2017 post No! all no’s were in bold. feministkilljoys.com/2017/06/30/no/

Today in Washington DC! With the ever inspiring Soraya Chemaly! ! politics-prose.com/sara-ahmed-0...

We’re proud to include voices like @natashadevon.bsky.social MBE - journalist, campaigner, and long-time advocate for women and young people - in our growing movement of women speaking out in support of the trans+ community

As @saranahmed.bsky.social has written: An abuser does not just have a network. An abuser is a network. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

"we helped bring fascists to power, we provided them with an ideology to use to strip away trans rights and reinforce gender norms. but it turns out that they're not fond of the gays WTF???"

Philly today! Saying no, in a killjoy way. With Heather Love 💜 publictrust.org/on-complaint...

“It comes down to this: The press, because of its own conventions and time-honored practices, normalizes him, and thus fails to get across the extreme nature of this president’s behavior. Ten years of sane-washing have had their effect. He remains in power, reelected, undeterred.”

A killjoy joy to be launching No! The Art and Activism of Complaining with @roxanegay.bsky.social & @feministpress.bsky.social tonight @clags.bsky.social. I did describe myself as a mega-fan of Roxane’s in The Feminist Killjoy Handbook. So this is a lot! Hope you can come along!

📆 Mon. 4/6 @ 7PM: Independent feminist scholar Sara Ahmed joins us in store for a discussion of her new book, No!: The Art and Activism of Complaining. She will be joined in conversation by award-winning author Durba Mitra. Learn more here: buff.ly/ObaGaY7

Today! Hope some folks turn up!

The No!s have arrived! Just in time for a quick study session 💜

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."

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)"