Seeing RED

Anger can feel all-consuming, unstoppable and like a dirty word. But how has our understanding of it evolved – especially as it concerns women?

- BY ROBYN MACLARTY

Some may refer to it as a 'rage era' - a period in your life when you come to the disconcerting realisation that you are angry.

Not just angry: furious. And you may not know why. You may not be able to point to a particular incident in recent memory, or any violation that might explain it. Rather, it is most likely a simmering, subterranean reservoir of molten anger that has seemingly always been there, yet you had managed to avoid all awareness of it.

You may want to hit things. Break things. Shout. Scream. Roar. Or 'crash out' as the TikTok community calls it. You may fantasise about running deep into a forest and releasing all your feral wrath away from cloying civilisation... This is probably when you'll realise that there are remarkably few, if any, socially accepted avenues for women to express primal anger - ways to give it a voice and allow it to occupy space.

During this era, your loved ones might tread carefully around you - handling you with kid gloves - which could only fuel your frustration. Those closest to you likely won't know how to respond, and honestly, who could blame them? There doesn't seem to be a clear path forward for everyone involved.