The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way [Paperback]

“Being the killjoy is often a joy unto itself, and Ahmed shows us how to embrace it in all its liberatory glory” (Ms.magazine)

Do you refuse to laugh at offensive jokes? Have you ever been accused of ruining dinner by pointing out your companion’s sexist comment? Are you often told to stop being so “woke”? If so, you might be a feminist killjoy—and this handbook is for you. In this book, feminist theorist Sara Ahmed shows how killing joy can be a radical world-making project.  

Presenting sharp analysis of literature, film, and influential feminist works, and drawing on her own experiences as a queer feminist scholar-activist of color, Ahmed reveals the invaluable lessons of the feminist killjoy, from the importance of asking questions to the power of the eye roll.The Feminist Killjoy Handbookoffers an outstretched hand to feminist killjoys everywhere and an essential intellectual guide to the transformative power of getting in the way. 

Sara Ahmedis a feminist writer and independent scholar who works at the intersection of feminist, queer, and race studies. Winner of the 2017 Kessler Award from CLAGS, the Center for LGBTQ Studies, Ahmed is the author ofLiving a Feminist Lifeand many other notable books. She lives in the UK. 

“Being the killjoy is often a joy unto itself, and Ahmed shows us how to embrace it in all its liberatory glory.”
 Ms. magazine, Best Books of 2023“The Feminist Killjoy Handbookis clearly helpful instruction. It is a book you can learn from: Here, in its pages, is your community and networks...To be a feminist killjoy, in other words, means celebrating a different kind of joy, a joy that comes from doing critical damage to what damages and knowing that by doing so, far from merely negating the world, one is making a world full of creativity, collaboration, company, equality, freedol£«