Living a Feminist Life

In Part 1, Ahmed begins “close to home,” with her own story of becoming a feminist. She includes many biographical details in the first chapter. She also considers feminism as experiential—not merely a matter of thought and theory, but of physical sensation, emotion, and direction or movement.

Ahmed says that “feminism is sensational” (21). By this, she means both as “provoking excitement” (as in sensational news) and being of the senses. Thus, feminism is not merely an academic, theoretical, or mental exercise, but a matter of physicality, of sensing the world and one’s place in it. It is also about “making sense” of the world—as in coming to some kind of understanding of it. This often begins with the sensation of being wrong, and being wronged. These things are felt more than thought, as Ahmed argues: “Feminism can begin with a body, a body in touch with a world, a body that is not at ease in a world; a body that fidgets and moves around” (22).

A feminist body feels out of place and uncomfortable in the world, and senses that they are wrong in the world, but also wronged by the world.