Hell Hath No Fury like a Women’s Scorn
A sad women looks beautiful, but an angry women is dangerous.
From little up girls are made to believe that girls do not get angry they get sad. Anger is for boys and does not suit girls. Which is why it is no surprised that the three-time national champion and 2016 world silver medalist, Ashely Wagner received lots of backlash after speaking out about her anger about not being chosen for the 2018 Olympic team. Wagner placed 4th in the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and was furious over her scores. Wagner spoke out soon after the competition about how she was “absolutely furious” over her scores. She felt that the judges underscored her and was quick to call out the judges. Wagner comments and anger received a lot of negative comments and reactions from people. When a women speaks out it never perceived very well by the public.
After receiving the backlash Wagner tweeted that “As an athlete, I’m allowed to be mad. As a senior competitor with over 10 years of experience, I’m allowed to question things.” Women should be allowed to feel anger, but in our society a women’s anger is not beautiful nor is it accepted. In “I Used to Insist I Didn’t Get Angry. Not Anymore” article written by Leslie Jamison, she talks about how a women’s anger is more likely to be described as “bitchy” and “hostile”. This view on a women’s anger can be seen especially clear with Wagner’s case. People would leave negative comments on her twitter saying she was allowed to be disappointed with herself, but she is not allowed to be angry. Our society is constantly reinforcing the idea that girls do not get angry and that anger is only for males. We as a society are always quick to try to contain someone who is going against the bounds of femininity. I believe this is because, society does not like someone going against the bounds of their gender.
Women are not allowed to experience anger, because anger has always been a male’s emotion. Jamison mentions in her article how in a study done in 1990 they found that a female’s anger is viewed as more hostile compared to a male’s anger. I believe that we find a female’s anger more hostile because people do not see a female’s anger as something natural or normal. I speculate that this is because as a society we view a female’s sadness as something beautiful. When a female gets angry on TV or in a movie, she typically portraying a villain or something evil. Jamison mentions in her article how the angry women is always a threat and are portrayed as threatening archetypes like the witch and her spells, harpies and etc. When all you see of female anger are monsters then people start to associate them together.
Jamison would agree that we need to change the way our society views women. Women are human too and it is natural for humans to experience anger. We should not limit females to only be able to feel sadness but never anger. I believe what needs to happen is people need to stop associating sadness with beauty. Why is a sad woman beautiful but an angry women threatening? I believe it is the fact that women have been repressed for so long and that they do not want women to gain power. When you live in a male dominated society it is no surprise women are expected to live to their expectations. It is considered unfeminine to get angry and to express any negative emotion besides sadness. Sadness is not considered threatening to them and is considered beautiful. When will anger be considered beautiful in our society? Anger will always be viewed as a troublesome emotion on women and something that does not belong. The world does not want to see an angry women, they want to see a beautiful women.
I believe that this issue will not change until our society changes. This issue has been going on forever. It is embedded in us from a young age to discourage women when they are angry. We are taught to view female anger as something dangerous and unnatural. We are bombarded by images in media of female anger being portrayed as something bitchy and evil. I believe Jamison would support me when I say that we need to teach our children that female anger is not evil or unnatural. It is part of human nature to get angry and that anger should not be limited to just one gender. Jamison mentions in her article that people had a difficult time recognizing the emotion of anger on a women’s face. This is probably because it is not an emotion society approves of or supports. Female anger is something that is not shown, females are suppose to never show their anger to the world.
