I recently finished reading Rebecca Traister’s Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger. It’s an interesting and very timely discussion of how women’s anger is altering the political landscape after a long history of being treated as laughable (for white women) or dangerous and “crazy” (for women of color, especially African-American women). The big surprise for Traister was the effect that writing the book had on her.
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There’s plenty for women to be angry about right now. Traister talks about the Women’s Marches, and the inevitable fury directed at Trump since the election. She waxes positively lyrical about #MeToo, and the chain reaction of finding out how many harassers are in our workplaces, harassers in charge of handling harassment complaints, harassers in the police departments, on the courts, and in newsrooms assigning stories saying “Has #MeToo gone too far?” Not to mention the series of revelations about harassers providing misogynist commentary on the 2016 election.
As she wrote the book, Traister noticed that her health was the best it had ever been. She was sleeping well, eating well, and having terrific sex with her husband. She’d always been told that anger was unhealthy, especially for women, yet she was having exactly the opposite experience. She noted that perhaps it wasn’t the anger as such, but having her anger acknowledged and validated — she was even getting paid for it.
There is no such beast as too angry
I’m a canary down this mine of apathy
singing and singing my yellow throat on fire
with this sacred holy purifying
spirit of anger
-Chrystos, “They’re Always Telling Me I’m Too Angry”
On to Top Comments!
From Mike the Liberal:
User paulwot highlighted this comment from TheLizardKing in xaxnar’s diary,Trump Stages Rose Garden Meltdown After Blowing Up A Meeting with Pelosi and Schumer ...Updated. It’s a good comment!
Highlighted by oslyn7:
This comment by peregrine kate dissects the right’s agenda around sex, gender, and reproduction.
Highlighted by apotropaic:
This comment by jds1978 describes how the situation currently boiling over for Republicans is one where they lit the fire themselves.
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