On defense

Part of a book forum on Srila Roy's Changing the Subject, this essay hones in on Roy's theorization of labor in feminist governmentality—from the underpaid labors of non-profit workers to the reproductive labors that vitalize feminist and queer rights movements to the care labors for target groups and the aesthetic labors of the workers in how they present themselves at work. These labors simultaneously contain and enable visions of social transformation. The labors that keep feminist and queer organizing alive are becoming more exhausting and challenging under a totalitarian regime. Hence, defensiveness is, more often than not, the default response to any critique of the politics of such labors. This essay asks if it is possible to engage with such defensiveness as an entry point to explore the everyday workings of queer and feminist mobilizations.