Reading:
Wiggle Room
by Sara Ahmed

Who is Sara Ahmed?

Sara Ahmed is a British-Australian scholar whose area of study includes the intersection of feminist theory, lesbian feminism, queer theory, critical race theory and post-colonialism.

How does Ahmed begin the text? If you noted down the ‘sections’ of this piece of writing, what
would those sections cover or talk through?

She begins with a relatable story of wearing a tight shoe. This introduces her idea of wiggle room, “less wiggle room: less freedom to be; less being to free.”

The sections cover gender, race, family, sexuality.

How would you define ‘wiggle room’?

I would define wiggle room as the space needed to fit comfortably.

She connects ‘wiggling’ with the will, or willfulness. How does she say that connection came about
for her?

“Willfulness might be a conversion point: how a potential is converted into a threat.” “In my book I treated this hesitation as important; as pedagogy, as revealing something about the risk of using the language of willfulness.” “When I spoke of the will as wiggle room in the conclusion of my book I noted that this room is the room “most often designated in human history as a ruin.” The capacity to deviate, to have room to move around in an irregular way, not to move forward to the future we are supposed to be reaching for (happiness, imagined as what follows living your life in the right way) has been deemed by many the beginning of demise.”

Ahmed uses specific definitions of words and their historic uses as a way ‘in’ to an idea. Can you find
an example of this?

“the word “queer” derives from the Indo-European word “twerk,” to turn or to twist, also related to the word “thwart” to transverse, perverse or to cross (1994: viii). That this word came to describe sexual subjects is no accident: those who do not follow the straight line, who to borrow Lucretius’ terms, “snap the bonds of fate,” are the perverts: swerving rather than straightening, deviating from the right course.”

What does she say is the difference between wiggling and wriggling?

“Wiggle is often defined as quick irregular sideways movements. Wriggle can mean to turn and twist in quick writhing movements. Wriggle also has a more sinister sense: when you wriggle out of something, you get out of something by devious means.”

How would you describe Ahmed’s writing? Formal, personal, casual, etc?

I would describe her writing as personal as she is constantly drawing on her own journey.

What effect does this have on the reader (on you!)?

It gives her writing more depth knowing that you’re reading about someones lived experiences and context.

A too-small room is a key metaphor that Ahmed uses to talk about ‘wiggling’ – why might it be
interesting to think of as spatial designers?

It’s a metaphor that tells us just how much space can effect how we feel and our mental state. As a spatial designer I have the power to manipulate that to induce feelings or sensations, positive or negative.

What else could be considered as a ‘space’ to wiggle within or what else could be considered
something to wiggle ‘against’?

Your past self. As you grow you change and if people haven’t grown with you they might hold you to their old perception of you which you would have to then wriggle against.

Ahmed references a number of other people’s texts – who is Judith Butler? Who is Jane Bennett?
Who is Eve Sedgwick?

Judith Pamela Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminist, queer,and literary theory.

Jane Bennett is an American political theorist and philosopher. She is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at the Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Arts and Sciences. She was also the editor of the academic journal Political Theory between 2012-2017.

Eve Sedgwick was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, and critical theory.