She Rages on History's Pages

An Analysis of Women's Anger in Media

Abstract

The history of women’s rage is a long, tired, and tediously unheard one. By analyzing media demonstrations of women’s rage from history to contemporary time, this paper explores the performances of women’s anger as demonstrations of empowerment and repudiation against structures upheld to methodically invalidate and undermine women’s experiences, knowledge, and embodied rising power. From the written word to music, women’s rage contains a deep well of information and lived stories. Therefore, the disregarding of that anger is the disregarding of knowledge, realities, and much-needed voice. More than that, the disregarding of women’s anger is also the destruction of powerful acts of simultaneous strength and vulnerability. The statements in this paper stand to demonstrate that women’s rage must be allowed room to spark, breathe, and ignite – from the carefully orchestrated speeches to the raw and unruly fury that comes from every walk of life. Throughout history, the rage of women has been speaking prominently, and it must be heard.