If you met me, say, fumbling with the scanner at the Stop & Shop self-checkout, you'd think, "What a nice, slightly inept middle-aged lady." But that's only because smoke doesn't literally come out of people's ears when they're angry. If it did, all the Stop & Shop shoppers would be evacuated and I'd be left sitting with my family-size box of Triscuits and my dog toys soaked in flame-retardant foam.
For the record, I am a nice lady, and one who is privileged to have a lot less to be mad about than many women. I'm employed, healthy, and educated, and there are people who have my back. I am also white, which means, among other things, that I'm spared being labeled an "angry Black woman" based on my merely showing up and having an opinion.
And yet, like everyone I know (and, judging by social media, almost everyone I don't know), I am far more rageful than ever before. Cultural extremism, inequities in our justice system, the attacks on LGBTQ+ people, and the revocation of our control over our bodies top my greatest-hits list of infuriating things. While those are macro issues, on a personal level "women are angry because they're feeling taken advantage of, stressed out, and exhausted," says Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger. "Even before the pandemic, women were much more stressed than men."
EMOTIONS ON STEROIDS
This story is from the August 2023 edition of Prevention US.
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This story is from the August 2023 edition of Prevention US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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