Living a Feminist Life

In the first conclusion, Ahmed explains both what items a killjoy should include in their own personal survival kit, and why this survival kit is necessary. In both her discussion of fragility in Chapter 7, and the need for lesbian feminism in Chapter 9, she highlights the struggle for survival against the many obstacles and walls that break the feminist killjoy over time. Building strategies for survival and “self-care” are their own kind of protest and resistance.

Building from Audre Lorde’s epilogue in A Burst of Life, Ahmed states that the struggle for survival is both a “life struggle and a political struggle” (237), insisting this kind of self-care is not self-indulgent but self-preservation. Ahmed then lists the items she recommends for a killjoy survival kit, offering examples from her personal life. 

Item 1: Books. Ahmed refers specifically to “kick-ass feminist books” (240) that inspire, comfort, and sometimes fuel the flames of feminist rage. Ahmed’s books include the feminist philosophy texts she cites, such as The Cancel Journals by Audre Lorde; Talking Back by bell hooks; and Gender Trouble by Judith Butler; as well as works of feminist fiction such as Mrs.