Don’t tell me how to feel (ongoing)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was called a bitch by Ted Yoho, a male colleague, on the steps of Congress, so she came back swinging. She reprimanded him in front of the whole House. Her rage and emotion in that speech was evident, but she couldn’t yell at him or cuss him out. For as feminist and radical as she is, she had to be noble, dignified. She knew innately that even in 2020, at a place where months before Brad Kavanaugh freely cried, yelled and berated those questioning his history of sexual assault, for her raw, unfiltered and justified rage was not acceptable.
Female anger is stuck in this double bind, on one hand, society tells us that our anger is ugly, unpalatable and shrill, so we adjust, we shrink and we cover it up with sadness, sometimes fooling even ourselves. Sometimes we turn that exact anger against ourselves, we eat too much we don’t eat at all or we get into bad relationships. In the process of being what society wants us to be, palatable, we learn to hate and lose ourselves. Yet all throughout history female rage has been used to challenge systems, dismantle oppression and progress us forward. Many many women have marched, rallied, protested and gone on hunger strikes against injustices against themselves and others.
Elise
Kay Kay
Mariam
We start to learn from a young age that being loud or being strong, was not meant for us. In order, to take on the emotional weight of others we make ourselves smaller. But the anger still lingers, it always lingers, we start to turn it against ourselves or against those we love the most.
Dibya
Madi
Julia
Rayvn
Self-Portrait
How do we grow when we are taught to be small? How do we love others if we never love ourself? How do we become vulnerable when we carry such a weight? How do we unlearn the years and decades of gender roles that surround and engulf us?
Sydney
Sam
Jessica
Nodesia
Nada
Lepa
Rage, rage, righteous rage. Rage, rage, taking control. Rage, rage, powerful and taking over. Embrace it. Use it, don’t let it use you. But if it becomes too much and when it becomes too much, sweet release.