In the introduction of Ahmed book, entitled ‘Bringing Feminist Theory home’ she speaks to what Feminism means to her and introduces the concept of ‘feminist policing’ and the consequences that has on feminism in its entirety, both good and bad.
Ahmed summaries the meaning of feminism for her as “how we pick each other up. So much history in a word; so much it too has picked up.” (Ahmed, pg. 1) As the opening introduction progresses it becomes clearer what that line means and it presents itself
In the introduction of Ahmed book, entitled ‘Bringing Feminist Theory home’ she speaks to what Feminism means to her and introduces the concept of ‘feminist policing’ and the consequences that has on feminism in its entirety, both good and bad.
Ahmed summaries the meaning of feminism for her as “how we pick each other up. So much history in a word; so much it too has picked up.” (Ahmed, pg. 1) As the opening introduction progresses it becomes clearer what that line means and it presents itself
In the introduction of Ahmed book, entitled ‘Bringing Feminist Theory home’ she speaks to what Feminism means to her and introduces the concept of ‘feminist policing’ and the consequences that has on feminism in its entirety, both good and bad.
Ahmed summaries the meaning of feminism for her as “how we pick each other up. So much history in a word; so much it too has picked up.” (Ahmed, pg. 1) As the opening introduction progresses it becomes clearer what that line means and it presents itself
In the introduction of Ahmed book, entitled ‘Bringing Feminist Theory home’ she speaks to what Feminism means to her and introduces the concept of ‘feminist policing’ and the consequences that has on feminism in its entirety, both good and bad.
Ahmed summaries the meaning of feminism for her as “how we pick each other up. So much history in a word; so much it too has picked up.” (Ahmed, pg. 1) As the opening introduction progresses it becomes clearer what that line means and it presents itself
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Sara Ahmed, ‘Introduction: Bringing Feminist Theory Home’ and ‘Conclusion 2: A
Killjoy Manifesto’, in Living a Feminist Life (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2017).
In the introduction of Ahmed book, entitled ‘Bringing Feminist Theory home’ she speaks to what Feminism means to her and introduces the concept of ‘feminist policing’ and the consequences that has on feminism in its entirety, both good and bad.
Ahmed summaries the meaning of feminism for her as “how we pick each other up. So much history in a word; so much it too has picked up.” (Ahmed, pg. 1) As the opening introduction progresses it becomes clearer what that line means and it presents itself as an adequate and clever summation of ‘Feminism’ on the whole. Feminism in the eyes of Ahmed is about relationships, specifically the searching or questioning (“asking ethical questions” (Ahmed, pg. 1)) and demanding equity within those relationships and challenging those where it is not present. Ahmed highlights Feminism as a tool for how to “live better in an unjust and unequal world” (Ahmed, pg. 1) which she labels an “not-feminist and antifeminist world”. (Ahmed, pg. 1)
Ahmed acknowledgement of Feminism in its complexities reinforces her argument of how
questioning through a Feminist lens in practice enables living “better in an unjust and unequal world”. (Ahmed, pg. 1) Ahmed’s analysis around ‘Feminist policing’ is especially convincing and highlights the clever and nuanced argument she is making. To Ahmed, Feminism is a tool for addressing inequity which becomes easily dismissed when it is framed as a judgement against others. “Feminism can be more easily dismissed when feminism is heard as about dismissal; as making people feel bad for their desires and investments”. (Ahmed, pg. 2) What is key to this argument is that this dismissal is not a failure of Feminism but rather a tool in itself because it allows for the addressing of inequities to occur and be questioned when those inequities are called to account which, Ahmed suggests is at the heart of what Feminism stands for. Questioning isn’t policing but rather that if this dismissal is on the grounds of policing then retooling is not stating that questioning of inequities is policing but rather “disagrees with the premise by converting it into a promise” (Ahmed, pg. 3) in saying that if you see questioning sexism as policing then “we are feminist police”. (Ahmed, pg. 3) The causal nature of Feminism or “promiscuous” approach as Ahmed puts it, means that questioning sexism is morally correct rather than a Feminist action but when that is dismissed as morally correct then feminism comes in as an anchor to identifying the dismissal and initial issue as sexist. This showcases the nuance, rather than using ‘Feminism’ as a shutdown it becomes an opportunity to casually and then directly address inequities like sexism. This is the “how we pick each other up” (Ahmed, pg. 1) Because we have something to all collectively draw from and weigh inequities against. A cause, a sense of right and wrong and a right to question and to challenge which creates hope rather than a making existence feel hopeless. “hope is behind us when we have to work for something to be possible.” (Ahmed, pg. 3)
The crux of Ahmed’s argument is that feminism is complex and layered just as the world and inequities it attempts to address and challenge is. Feminism provides a guiding hand for a closer understanding to what, as Ahmed puts it, “what we are working toward.” (Ahmed, pg. 1) Her final paragraph highlights this when she says, “After all if our aim is to build feminist dwellings, we need to dismantle what has already been assembled; we need to ask what it is we are against, what it is we are for, knowing full well that this “we” is not a foundation but what we are working toward.” (Ahmed, pg. 3) Feminist policing therefore allows for the dismissals and simultaneously an anchoring into ‘Feminism’ as something to draw from to dismiss the dismissal, therefore providing a tool “of how we pick each other up” and how that sets us toward, living “better in an unjust and unequal world”. (Ahmed, pg. 1)
In Ahmed’s conclusion entitled, ‘Conclusion 2: a Killjoy Manifesto’ she touches on the
discomfort and importance of dismissing the dismissal. The Killjoy Manifesto is the script for challenging inequities and moving towards a more feminist existence. Ahmed uses the term ‘Killjoy’ to describe the discomfort that results, as to “build feminist dwellings” (Ahmed, pg. 3) we must “dismantle what has already been assembled” (Ahmed, pg. 3) and for many that is a space of happiness and comfort. What Ahmed is acknowledging is that to dismantle there must be a “struggle against happiness” (Ahmed, pg. 255) of some, for the collective happiness of more. The manifesto in the eyes of Ahmed is to “enact (a) collective frown” (Ahmed, pg. 254) towards this happiness on the basis that a world which assigns the label of Killjoy to those questioning and challenging inequities is, “not a world we want to be a part of”. (Ahmed, pg. 255) For Ahmed, the Killjoy manifesto is how “judgement becomes a project”, the movement toward living “better in an unjust and unequal world” which she touches on in her introduction (Ahmed, pg. 1)
