While the universities are rendered as safe spaces for many, the institutions abound with experiences of sexual assault, bullying, and many other forms of antagonisms. The focus is clearly on complaints in an institutional space, but so much of what the author speaks of is applicable to complaints in a family, complaints in a friend groups, and generally not going with the flow (which can be read as a complaint, as the author points out).

To be heard as complaining is often attuned to sound, to how we sound, how we are heard as sounding, to how words sound, to how we sound, how we are heard as sounding, to how words sound, stories too’ (17). There’s a lot to learn from paying attention to people’s complaints, and just as much to learn from paying attention to whose complaints are not heard.I make it clear that I welcome feedback with which I can engage and even reject, but I suggest that a dissertation is a project that I shape that does not belong to her expectations.

According to her unique positionality, she is both a witness and party to the community of people who supply the knowledge and encouragement complainers rely on to see their complaint through. Drawing on oral and written testimonies from academics and students who have made complaints about harassment, bullying, and unequal working conditions at universities, Ahmed explores the gap between what is supposed to happen when complaints are made and what actually happens.A lot of people talked to me about how when they tried to make complaints, it was often the diversity agenda that would be used against them—as if they weren’t doing this the right way, as if they weren’t being appealing enough, as if by even using certain words they were trying to make life difficult for other people, including other minoritized staff. Given this sad reversal, it's an ironic silver lining to read about how unresponsive institutions are to legitimate and galling complaints of harassment, racism and sexism. Though Ahmed’s own experience is not treated directly, her reflections on the subject reveal her personal stakes in prizing apart the complaint.

Being a Feminist Killjoy is a matter of identification; it is also, as Ahmed describes on the blog, what she does and how she thinks, “my philosophy and my politics. When I think about both Gulzar and Lauren, I think about how the tightness or narrowness of words—of pronouns, say—can be experienced as giving you no room. Ahmed explores how complaints are made behind closed doors and how doors are often closed on those who complain. Inspired by the students she worked with, Ahmed’s new book examines the act—indeed, the feminist pedagogy—of complaining within an organization.I saw myself in this book, and it has given me a language for the things I learnt the hard way in academia. I do not believe I am the intended audience, seems geared towards people in academia or highly bureaucratic fields. At my former university, a group of students put together a collective complaint, anonymously, about sexual harassment and misconduct. Meanwhile, the ugly qualities of the incidents complained about often attach themselves to those complaining. As the author makes clear, they usually do their best to shove things under the rug with minimal disruption, especially if someone who is well-liked or a leader is involved.