Lesson 5.5: Joy as Resistance

1. Joy as political strategy

Joyful resistance takes many shapes and forms, depending on the local contexts:

• pride marches and feminist strikes
• queer festivals
• small gatherings in safe spaces
• art-making workshops
• online humour and satire

Each of these practices (and many others) reclaims public and emotional space from fear and authoritarianism. They allow communities to feel alive, connected, and hopeful in the face of ‘anti-gender’ hostility.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

2. Joy as defiance in hostile contexts

In Greece, joy remains a vital force even under violence and precarity. As one of RESIST participants (GRINT06) explained:

Thank goodness that I can be here talking with you [...] it has often been abusive [...] there had been many threats, [...] but not enough to put a stop to the desire for life [...]   to devour all this amazing spectrum of experience [...] brought by queer life. (p. 10)

Joy resists the logic of repression by insisting that queer life is abundant, relational, and worth celebrating. Another Greek participant, Eleni, linked joy directly to collective resilience:

I believe that in these  circumstances – which are so suffocating – we need to see that the path is from isolation to collectivity […] the answer to this is to rediscover the joys of killjoy feminism, but together. (p. 20)

3. Joy in public space

Across Europe, collective joy manifests as a visible challenge to ‘anti-gender’ narratives:

• In Poland and Spain, street protests such as the Women’s Strike and 8M marches use music, humour, dance, and creative slogans to transform anger into empowerment.
• In Switzerland, queer activists mocked a far-right slogan (‘Stop Gender Terror’) by organising a satirical ‘Gender Terror Party’ – reclaiming language meant to intimidate them.
• In Belarus, where public protest is banned, joy takes quieter but no less political forms: a shared song online, a rainbow sticker, humour in encrypted chats – each gesture a spark of solidarity under repression.

Joy sustains courage. It counters the demoralising effects of surveillance and fear. It creates ‘breathing spaces’ where people can recover the energy to resist.

Photo by Red Dot on Unsplash

In 2020, amidst Covid-19 restrictions, Poland experienced two significant waves of protests: summer LGBTIQ+ protests sparked by the arrest of LGBTQ+ activist Margot from the anarcho-queer collective Stob Bzdurom, reflecting wider discontent with the homophobic and transphobic political climate. In the fall, pro-abortion protests erupted following a Constitutional Tribunal ruling that banned abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities.

4. Joy, creativity, and emotional learning

Joy flows into education, art, and knowledge-sharing. These are not separate from activism; they are how movements survive and renew themselves. In Ireland, activists emphasised the importance of creating ‘space for collective joy’:

• community parties
• creative workshops
• trans-only events
• activities for people of colour
• support groups combining celebration, education, and rest.

One activist described organising as a way to

create a different world, a safer world, by changing people’s relationship with the one that actually exists. (p. 17)

Joy allows learning to be relational and imaginative. It opens space for new narratives of belonging.

5. Limits of joy

Joy is not always available. Repression, economic precarity, exile, violence, and burnout can make celebration feel impossible. But activists emphasise that even fleeting moments of joy – a shared joke, a meal, a dance – can be healing.

Joy does not erase pain. But it creates the emotional conditions for endurance. Where care (Topic 2) holds communities together, joy renews their collective imagination. It helps people remember the world they want to build, not only the forces they are resisting.

This is why queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz (2009) insists that joy gestures toward futures ‘not yet here’ – that is, joy makes freedom feel possible even when it is not yet achievable.

6. Key takeaways

• Joy is a political act that challenges fear-based ‘anti-gender’ narratives.
• It fosters solidarity, courage, and emotional restoration.
• Joy sustains long-term resistance by keeping imagination alive.
• Even in repressive contexts, small acts of joy create space for connection and hope.
• Together with care, creativity, and knowledge-sharing, joy forms a crucial part of the infrastructures that enable queer, trans, and feminist communities to survive and thrive.