One of the central themes of the book is the concept of Living as Feminist Resistance. Throughout the book, Ahmed argues that if the powers and structures of the world intend to keep certain people (women, queer people, disabled people) out, devalue their lives, and in some cases literally destroy their lives, then the mere act of living and surviving in these circumstances is, in and of itself, a form of active resistance. This runs counter to some claims, both within and outside feminist movements, that the personal and the political are two separate things. For instance, Ahmed discusses the accusations against lesbian feminism as being too identity-focused, which implies that focusing on the way one lives is a “weak substitute for political struggle or a withdrawal of feminist energy from that struggle” (213). Instead, Ahmed argues that the daily lived experiences of women are inherently tied to the political structures and institutions that keep women “in their place.”

Ahmed demonstrates willingness to share biographical details of her own experiences to showcase the ways the personal and the political are combined. In discussing her experiences of abuse from her father, she shows how the act of living her own life according to her own desires and refusing to relinquish her will to the control of her father is, in her father’s eyes at least, an existential threat to the patriarchal power structures that her father and other men benefit from and work to uphold.