Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (Emergent Strategy Book 1)

in a nutshell, pleasure activism is learning from what pleases us about how to make justice and liberation the most pleasurable experiences we can have.

I used to say, “I don’t know if I love myself.” And one of my aunts put me in front of the mirror at age six and seven, and she said, “You are gonna look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘I love myself.’ And then you’re going to say ‘I love Black people.’” And at first I resisted, but then I was like, “OK. Let’s do this.” And she was committed to

The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible. —Toni Cade Bambara

the joy and celebration of being miraculous. So rather than encouraging moderation over and over, I want to ask you to relinquish your own longing for excess and to stay mindful of your relationship to enough. How much sex would be enough? How high would be high enough? How much love would feel like enough? Can you imagine being healed enough? Happ

And I think that when I came into theater, I walked through it and came out on the other side, and was like, oh, this is about something else. This is about vibration. This is about how we transform the frequencies we’re living inside.

Even as the suffering gets bigger. I keep saying, I don’t think things are getting worse, I think they’re getting uncovered. This is the unveiling, and at the end of the unveiling, we have nakedness. And that nakedness calls for new desire.

To say, “I need to hear that you miss me.” “When you’re high all the time it’s hard for me to feel your presence.” “I lied.” “The way you talked to that man made me feel unseen.” “Your jealousy makes me feel like an object and not a partner.” The result of this kind of speech is that our lives begin to align with our longings, and our lives become

Those of us that have been taught by Farah Griffin have felt cherished. Not precious. Not perfect. Not without growing to do. But necessary. And dreamt of. And held.

how do we center creation and desire as integral to liberation?

Ultimately, pleasure activism is us learning to make justice and liberation the most pleasurable experiences we can have on this planet.