Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger

by Rebecca Traister

“We are angry because people are telling us what is happening to us right in front of our faces is not in fact happening, and that is crazy to me.”

women have been so well conditioned to tamp down the rage, to disguise it or compartmentalize it, that the revelation that it’s bubbling underneath feels surprising and discombobulating—even worrying—to others.

“We get told all the time that our anger is disruptive, that it is a distraction, that it is not helpful, and that in fact it is divisive and moving us backwards,” said Alicia Garza. “Yet nobody ever seems to question: why are you so fucking mad?”

anger turned inward leads to depression, perhaps making it no coincidence that one of the most common ways for women to express their anger is through tears.

‘You may think I am sad because I am crying. No. I am angry.’

if men are that weak and we have to defend them all the time, then why do they have all the power?”

the spate of #metoo stories should have put to rest the idea that man’s good treatment of some women assures that he has treated all women well. Many of the same men who’d been great mentors to women had also harassed or assaulted women.

‘What if what you’re saying makes men uncomfortable?’ Good. I’ve been uncomfortable my whole life. Welcome to our world of discomfort.”

“Let’s make a full-blown trend out of replacing predatory men with women who were long overdue to hold their jobs in the first place,” one writer had crowed in Vogue. “It’s really the least the patriarchy can do.”

You need to channel your inner mediocre white boy and use that to run.”

“They thought they could bury us; they didn’t know we were seeds.”