A killjoy’s answer is an answer to these questions: why another book on complaint? Why another trade book? Why another handbook?

A Complainer’s Handbook is currently in the process of being re-titled but that is not an answer to these questions.

The answer is in an off-repeated utterance:

“This does not just happen in universities, you know.”

I did know.

I do know.

Complaints are missing data. When you complain you gather information about the institution, most of which is never revealed by it. To collect that data creates a very different picture of the institution. As soon as I began to release the data, people told me  the picture it was creating was not specific to universities, which is another way of saying:

“This does not just happen in universities, you know.”

I did not even have to release any data to be told this. One time I was dropping off our dogs to our sitter, Sally. I was on route to give some lectures in the US. Sally asked me what I was lecturing on. I told her, complaint. She then shared with me what happened when she made a complaint about bullying at her former work-place. She said, “they locked the door and I knew I was in trouble.” I did not tell her my lecture was entitled, “Closing the Door.” Sally kept her hands on her face when she shared what happened, showing as well as telling me how hot and bothered it still made her feel to talk about it even though what happened had happened a long time ago.  Whenever I talk about complaint, stories like this have been shared with me, difficult experiences brought into the space of a conversation.

It takes time for people to entrust you with their stories. That is why in this new book the stories of making complaints at universities that were shared with me with detail and in confidence, retain an exemplary status. Wherever possible, I make connections between the stories given to me in confidence and those that entered the public domain because they ended up in the courts or have been shared by whistle-blowers or investigative journalists.   

To share the stories again to release them, to hear the killjoy truths in them. I wanted to find another way to share these truths.

And that is also a killjoy’s answer to the question of why I am now writing a newsletter.

I am writing to share killjoy knowledge, to ask questions, to answer them, to participate in a dialogue. You can subscribe here:

https://substack.com/@feministkilljoys

In killjoy solidarity as ever

Sara xx