Feminist Killjoy
@saranahmed.bsky.social
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Writer and independent feminist scholar Queer person of colour
#FreePalestine
pinned post!
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 š„š„
11 days ago
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10 years. A love letter to diversity workers. And gratitude for my complaint collective.
substack.com/@feministkil...
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Sara Ahmed (@feministkilljoys)
Ten years ago this month, I resigned from my post and my profession in protest at the failure of my institution to deal with the problem of sexual harassment. It was a lot to give up. But it was neces...
https://substack.com/@feministkilljoys/note/c-236499703?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
about 14 hours ago
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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...
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Signing the Collective Statement on Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026
Collective Statement on Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026. Note: Translations of this statement in multiple Indian languages are available at the end. We, the concerned ...
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdKNOw0cQrMbkYm2srKIBa-RHBMHRVCz6jkY9W-l714oJy8MQ/viewform
6 days ago
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I had to get this out. Mistakes probably. Solidarity always with all survivors of secrets.
open.substack.com/pub/feminist...
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Whose secrets do we keep?
Some scattered thoughts on silence and violence
https://open.substack.com/pub/feministkilljoys/p/whose-secrets-do-we-keep?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=split
10 days ago
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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 š„š„
11 days ago
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reposted by
Feminist Killjoy
they_paved_paradise
14 days ago
"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."
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Feminist Killjoy
Limón de Beauvoir
14 days ago
An abuser does not just have a network. An abuser is a network. When they have each otherās backs, their backs become doors.
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ProfKFH
15 days ago
It seems the phrase should be āmenās club talkā instead of ālocker room talkā āThe conversation was like being in a menās club, you know.It was really offensive. They didnāt notice me.āThe men at that table used the same words to describe womenās bodies that are much repeated in the
#Epstein
filesā
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Feminist Killjoy
Dr Zara Bain
16 days ago
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:
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Institutional As Usual
I have been away from my blog for some time! Over the summer, I completed the second draft of my book, Whatās the Use: On The Uses of Use, which I have now sent to my publishers. There will bā¦
https://feministkilljoys.com/2017/10/24/institutional-as-usual/
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open.substack.com/pub/feminist...
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An Abuser is a Network
Some thoughts on how our complaint archives can help us in reading the Epstein files
https://open.substack.com/pub/feministkilljoys/p/an-abuser-is-a-network?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios
15 days ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen ę®·č
about 1 month ago
"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. šŖ
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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...
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A queer phenomenology
How I came to write a sequel 20 years later
https://substack.com/@feministkilljoys/note/p-189344607?r=26v21r&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
28 days ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Chris Lloyd
about 1 month ago
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...
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Feminist Killjoy
Lee Hurley
about 2 months ago
UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
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UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule
Protest groupās co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/13/uk-ban-palestine-action-unlawful-high-court-judges-rule
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Feminist Killjoy
K R
about 2 months ago
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
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Feminist Killjoy
Ken Wissoker
about 2 months ago
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...
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Feminist Killjoy
ProfKFH
about 2 months ago
At Barnard College, dozens of faculty_circulated an open letter calling on the college to investigate & publicly address trusteesā past connections to Epstein,& urging the removal of Francine A. LeFrakās name from campus buildings as well as her resignation from the board.
archive.ph/2026.02.11-0...
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https://archive.ph/2026.02.11-011151/https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-moment-of-reckoning-after-epstein-higher-ed-faces-hard-questions-about-its-proximity-to-power
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Feminist Killjoy
Ethel Baraona Pohl
about 2 months ago
«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.»
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Feminist Killjoy
Study of Religion as an Analytical Discipline Workshop
about 2 months ago
"Ahmedās
@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)"
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Feminist Killjoy
Citizen.Coping
about 2 months ago
"When what you experience is part of the culture, you donāt 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
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The Hopefulness of Complaint
A lecture delivered for the Transform Theory, Policy, and Practice: Decolonise Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Higher Education (HE) conference, Westminster University on February 6, 2026.*
https://open.substack.com/pub/feministkilljoys/p/the-hopefulness-of-complaint?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
about 2 months ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Ideas on Fire
about 2 months ago
Itās 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
. š„³
dukeupress.edu/sex-isnt-real
#IoFAuthors
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Feminist Killjoy
Haymarket Books
2 months ago
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.
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Free Ebooks: Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border
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 an...
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/525-free-ebooks-abolish-ice-abolish-the-border
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Alasdair Pettinger
3 months ago
'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-...
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An Empire of Closets
A killjoy new year message
https://feministkilljoys.substack.com/p/an-empire-of-closets?publication_id=2289424
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No cheer for no cheer. Keep planting your rebellion!
open.substack.com/pub/feminist...
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An Empire of Closets
A killjoy new year message
https://open.substack.com/pub/feministkilljoys/p/an-empire-of-closets?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios
3 months ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Durba Mitra
3 months ago
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...
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I could write so many more letters.
substack.com/@feministkil...
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Sara Ahmed (@feministkilljoys)
Dear mainsteam British media, What a pity you blanked No is Not a Lonely Utterance! You might have found some useful tools to help explain not just how but why people protect serial abusers. ...
https://substack.com/@feministkilljoys/note/c-189841081?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
3 months ago
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Joshua Foust šŖš®
3 months ago
A new book from one of the most transformative scholars I ever read? Hell yes.
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making art
3 months ago
"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."
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Queer ears for my queer peers! Thanks to
@divamag.bsky.social
for sharing some of my opinions!
diva-magazine.com/2025/12/18/i...
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OPINION: It is vital that LGBTQIA+ people master the art of complaining
Sara Ahmed urges us to free ourselves from institutional closets
https://diva-magazine.com/2025/12/18/it-is-vital-that-lgbtqia-people-master-the-art-of-complaining/
3 months ago
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Sara Ahmed (@feministkilljoys)
My last event for the year is today! It is an online conversation with Our Streets Now. Sorry, it is not free. But this does mean it will be a smaller group and I will be able to chat more informally ...
https://substack.com/@feministkilljoys/note/c-189127915?r=26v21r&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
3 months ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Ken Wissoker
4 months ago
Coming up next Monday, December 8 at 6:30 eastern via Zoom webinar. Right on time! Registration details linked below!
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That is such a feminist hope: to help many people be freer š
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4 months ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Cynthia Khoo
4 months ago
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...
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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/...
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No!
An assembly of refusals portraying theĀ radical power of ānoā by the renowned scholar andĀ author of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook, Sara Ahmed.To be heard as complaining is not to be heard, writesĀ Sara ...
https://feministpress.org/collections/coming-soon/products/9781558613683-no
4 months ago
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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...
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Sara Ahmed (@feministkilljoys)
I wrote my last piece, The Cancellers (https://substack.com/home/post/p-177974335), before I realised that teacher and author Kate Clanchy had published yet another āIāve been cancelled,ā story that h...
https://substack.com/profile/132459039-sara-ahmed/note/c-176055884?r=26v21r&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
5 months ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Transgender World
5 months ago
"A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics"āDems Win Elections Nationwide Despite Anti-Trans Ads
www.erininthemorning...
#transgender
#trans
#LGBTQ
#LGBTQIA
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"A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics"āDems Win Elections Nationwide Despite Anti-Trans Ads
As election results poured in on Tuesday night, it became clear that Democrats were winning nationwide against anti-trans opponents.
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/a-stunning-rebuke-of-anti-trans-politicsdems
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Canāt wait to listen š
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5 months ago
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The Complaint Apparatus
open.substack.com/pub/feminist...
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The Complaint Apparatus
Some thoughts on the co-option of complaints
https://open.substack.com/pub/feministkilljoys/p/the-complaint-apparatus?r=26v21r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
5 months ago
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Sadiah Qureshi š¦
5 months ago
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. Saraās 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.
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Queer joy! Killjoy joy! Glitter & rage on every page! Thanks Sen for such a sparkly conversation āØāØšŖ©šŖ©
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5 months ago
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Natacha
5 months ago
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 ārepresent womenā. If they do not represent you. Please sign.
notinourname.org.uk
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I think this might be the first time Iāve ever done a public event in Sheffield! Calling all killjoys! Tonight with Erin Maglaque & hosted by Juno Books.
www.outsavvy.com/event/29875/...
5 months ago
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Feminist Killjoy
Senthorun S. Raj
5 months ago
āOne common strategy of mainstream political parties ā adopting the same topics and rhetoric as the far-right ā often backfires. Instead of reducing their appeal, it can amplify extremist narratives and legitimise their agenda.ā We cannot defeat fascism by platforming it and debating on its terms.
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Mainstream loses control of agenda by mimicking far-right, study finds
During the 2024 European Parliament election campaign, centrist politicians warned about the threat posed by far-right parties to democracies. Yet experts suggest the political mainstream itself is pa...
https://euobserver.com/eu-and-the-world/arffb2b2c8
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Durba Mitra
6 months ago
so much more discourse about the compliance of Columbia, but the āagreementsā 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
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Feminist Killjoy
Emily Mann
6 months ago
@saranahmed.bsky.social
also radicalised me!ā ļø 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!
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Feminist Killjoy
Bradford District Green Party
6 months ago
Don't threaten us with a good time, Daily Express.
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Prof Sunny Singh
6 months ago
We mourn. We rest. We renew our strength and commitment. Then we turn up again and again and again. Until liberation and accountability. We wonāt forget. We wonāt forgive. We canāt. For all our sakes!
#FreePalestine
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Feminist Killjoy
Holly Bird
6 months ago
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
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