Cathy Meadows Angry? ... Me?

Angry?... Me?

An angry girl is an ugly girl. An angry girl is spoilt. An angry girl is unacceptable. An angry girl is spiteful and mean. An angry girl is ‘not very ladylike’. An angry girl must be punished. An angry girl is wild and needs to be tamed. An angry girl will never get a husband. An angry girl is sent off the sports court in disgrace. An angry girl gets excluded from school – especially if she's Black. An angry girl is unfeminine. An angry girl needs teaching a lesson. An angry girl needs to ‘calm down’, ‘eat this’, ‘swallow that’. An angry girl must have hit puberty. An angry girl must have started her period. An angry girl is a typical teenager. An angry woman is unattractive. An angry woman is unreasonable. An angry woman is embarrassing. An angry woman is letting the side down. An angry woman is making a show of herself. An angry woman brings shame on the family. An angry woman is irrational. An angry woman is out of control. An angry woman is crazy. An angry woman cannot be trusted with her children – especially if she’s working class. An angry woman should be locked up. An angry woman isn’t getting enough. An angry woman offends men – ‘What have I done?’ An angry woman needs to be taught a lesson. An angry woman will not get away with it. An angry woman needs to ‘calm down’, ‘have a drink’, ‘eat that’, ‘take this’. An angry woman must be on her period. Or be menopausal. Or perimenopausal. Or have early onset dementia.

Angry?... Me? An angry girl or woman has every reason to be angry. An angry girl or woman deserves compassion. An angry girl or woman needs space to safely rage against mistreatment, oppression and the irrational society. An angry girl or woman refuses to accept the status quo and directs her anger to unite with others to change the world.