Want To Take It Outside?

Angry women have a bad reputation. But writer Janice Turner will cross the road to pick a fight and argues (of course, she does) that rage can be a healthy emotion for everyone.

- Janice Turner

You what?” “That cigarette packet you chucked down on the road just there. Are you going to pick it up?”

The bloke is about 35, burly and in the middle of clambering back into his van. When I saw him spark up a cigarette then discard his empty box, I knew I had three choices. First, to walk on by. Second, to pick up his litter and swear under my breath. Or third, pick a fight.

This guy thinks his size and sex give him impunity, that the sprawling anonymity of London means no one cares. You picked the wrong street, sucker. At this point, I recall my husband’s words: “One day, you’ll get stabbed.” So far, being a woman—who’s no longer young, who could be someone’s mum—is my protective cloak. I haven’t been attacked…yet.

I hand the man his cigarette packet. “What the fuck!” he snarls, but lobs it into the back of his van and drives off. A victory of sorts. I realise I am shaking. Why do I literally cross the road to have a fight? Why do I yell at a dog owner across a busy park—heads turning, kids gawping—to tell him to pick up after his labradoodle that has just crapped on the football pitch?