Female rage is trendy, but it won’t save you from misogyny
Illustration by Lily Robinette
Arielle Andrews, Contributing Writer
In HBO’s “The Last of Us,” there is a haunting scene where main character Ellie brutally stabbed a man over and over again — relentless and animalistic in her pursuit. Normally, this sort of thing would be seen as disturbing, but this moment is not. It’s cathartic.
Ellie is a young girl. Her victim? An adult cannibal who attempted to groom and manipulate Ellie into being eaten by his cult.
Ellie’s revenge was profound. A glorious display of female rage that neither fetishized nor downplayed her righteous anger. Even in a show taking place in a post-pandemic apocalyptic world, many of us still understand what it’s like to be angry at a man. To be angry at a system that consistently demeans and preys upon women.
In the past few years, we’ve seen remarkable examples of female anger in the media. From Pearl’s maniacal outbursts in the 2022 film of the same name to the revenge story, “Promising Young Women,” the angry and liberated woman is provocative and trendy.
Last year, in the article “Are women getting angrier,” BBC reported that women are angrier than they were ten years ago. The women they surveyed described higher levels of stress and anger than even the men they talked to.
This trend can clearly be seen online. TikTok edits of female rage explode on the platform with millions of likes. Feminist audio clips like “Labour” by Paris Paloma go viral with 33,000 videos made under it. Its lyrics like “All day, every day / Therapist, mother, maid” appeal to a rageful demographic.
Many people have celebrated these outbursts as pivotal to the feminist movement. Female rage is lauded as necessary and precious. But how effective is female rage, really?
The function of anger is evolutionary. Anger makes us aggressive, in feelings and behaviors, and motivates us to fight back when threatened. It also provides a certain release of heavy emotions.
To this end, female rage is empowering. It is the beautiful collective release of years of anguish and distress. It pushes fem-identifying people into action and has bred many waves of feminism.
Do you want to relieve some stress? Get angry. Protest inequalities or kill injustice? Get angry. Generate collective interest and awareness? Get angry. Do you want to change the world? Well, you’re going to have to do a lot more than get angry.
Feminists have the troubling position of being in opposition to misogynists. Female rage is shunned at worst and fetishized at best. Women have had many things taken from them, but the right to rage against their oppressors was the first to go.
Many male misogynists have spent their whole lives angry. It’s a “manly” emotion. A source of pride. The patriarchy has spent its entire legacy raging against women in particular.
So, what happens when a woman rages against a man?
A man who does respect her will not be moved. This man will rage against her. This man with his legions of privilege, power and confidence will believe he will win.
I am not implying that women are not strong enough to rage against their oppressors, but that their oppressors will rage back. Violence against women has increased by 25-33% globally, according to a 2021 report published by the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
In the Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan, Sara Abdula attributed this to the recent surge of the “Manosphere.”
“A loosely related coalition of far-right and anti-feminist online communities and includes incels, men’s rights movements, pick-up artist culture and other forms of political activism in the pursuit of male hegemony (domination/leadership),” Abdula stated.
It must be said that the harshest victims of misogyny are those that challenge the status quo.
If women aspire to intimidate their oppressors, female rage will not help them. As women get angrier, so do misogynists. This tactic will become a futile one as you will not be able to outrage them and often, it won’t prevent violence from befalling you.
Female rage is necessary, but it will not save you from misogynists.
The question then becomes: What will?
I cannot offer a better solution. Misogyny is fueled by supremacy, rage and disinformation. Unfortunately, it exists within all of us. You will not be able to convince extreme misogynists with science or facts. You will not be able to out-rage them.
Yet, don’t lose hope.
“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed,” said Steve Biko, a South African Black liberationist.
Too many women have convinced themselves they cannot win against misogyny. This is where rage has both empowered and failed us.
We need to feel liberated. We need to get educated. We need to find solutions and carry out plans of action. We need to tirelessly seek our emancipation from the patriarchy.
Our best bet is to shame misogynists. Continue to challenge, educate and refuse to support them. Decenter their narrative and take our power; it belongs to us as much as it does anyone else.
I leave you with this. I want us to look at the plague of patriarchy and get angry. I need us to get angry. Then I need us to ask: what’s next?
