Women and Rage

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

If you are a woman, chances are you've been taught from an early age to hide your anger. You may have even been told that being angry is unfeminine and that if you want to be a 'good girl' you need to be NICE.

To put it bluntly - society frowns upon angry women, shames them and labels them unattractive, nasty and hostile.

The double standards are obvious - no one raises an eyebrow at the sight of an angry man but if a female expresses the same emotion she is told to "calm down dear" and is labeled hysterical, difficult and even out of control.

Why?

Firstly because there is an assumption that anger is negative, when really it's just another natural human emotion that when shared in a non-violent/ abusive manner can signal that something is wrong.

But when men get angry we respect it. They are upset over some wrongdoing, they are expressing their rage about it and they can even gain influence when they do so (in politics for example). However when women do it, they lose.

Why is that?

Subconsciously we expect women to just get on with wrongdoings and not 'kick up a fuss'. Society expects women to be accommodating and agreeable and if ever anything goes wrong women are not encouraged to speak up.

THAT'S where women's rage comes from. From the tension between having to deal with a lot of unfairness on the one hand, and not being allowed to shout, scream and break something on the other.

Well, I say fuck that shit.

Own your anger ladies because not only is feeling it natural while blocking it is NOT, it's also SO IMPORTANT that we express it.

In fact, throughout history 'female fury' has been a force for positive change, if anything we need MORE angry women, not less.

And maybe it's also time we completely rewrite the narrative and realise that "angry women" are not rare and mystical creators. They are not a "challenge" or some wild unicorns who have lost their way and need to be tamed. The male narrative of 'female fury' is that it's uncommon, wrong and unbecoming when actually anger is part of being human, and women are entitled to their anger, just like everyone else

#women #rage #feminism #tovaleigh