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

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

On a species level, I can feel there’s not a story for our survival in the cards and in ourselves right now. We need to generate that. Desire and pleasure are two ways that we assert that there’s something worth living for. And the more we remind ourselves of that together, the more we generate together. How do we move from a dying body to a reprod

That’s the transformative nature of humor and comedy. I think it really heals us and helps us let go. Anger is extremely powerful. And it can transform amazing things. But it also has its obstacles. It sets up walls. The counterbalance to that is laugher. And we have to not be afraid to use that.

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.

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

began craving laughter and joy. I decided to wear the one thing that gives visual pleasure instantly no matter who is wearing it, sequins. I wore sequins every single day for about a month. Although my energy was low, my sequin jackets would make someone giggle, and then they would send me that good energy, which would soothe my wounds. It was, and

Nenna Joiner

I also believe pleasure generated through our own power should resonate as far into the future as possible. If I eat something that tastes super-delicious but makes me sluggish and tired and sends me into a spiral of body shaming, then that was not a pleasurable experience, no matter how juicy and delicious it was. However, if I eat something fresh

But here’s the key: it started with pleasure, not with dieting and exercise. I had to love what is before I could understand what transformations were wanted, needed.