In the latest Independent Women newsletter, Victoria Richards argues that women's anger over abortion rights, misogyny and the Epstein files revelations is not only justified but a powerful force for change.
The Angry Woman Label
I have been called an 'angry woman' more times than I can recall. One man once remarked that he understood I was a feminist, but questioned why I had to be so angry about it. My natural response was to shrug and say: but of course I am angry. The real question I wanted to ask is: why aren't you? I stand with all the angry women; the incandescent, fire-lit women; the 'hysterical' women. Interestingly, the origin of the word 'hysteria' comes from the ancient Greek word hystera, meaning uterus or womb. For thousands of years, male physicians attributed any unexplained emotional outbursts in women, including fainting and physical ailments, to a 'wandering uterus' that they believed moved around the body, pressing on other organs and causing distress. The recommended 'cure' was marriage or pregnancy. It makes one wonder if a man devised that theory.
Reasons for Anger
Women have much to be angry about at present. We can and should be furious about losing our bodily autonomy, including rights to abortion and contraception, which are being stripped away in the US and are at risk in the UK, especially if Reform UK gains influence with its emphasis on pronatalism, 'resetting Britain's sexual culture', undoing the sexual revolution of the 1960s, and returning to 'traditional family values'. This is highlighted by exposés of how abortion is becoming a new front in Reform's culture war.
We should be angry about our sisters in Afghanistan, who are being silenced, shut away, and married off at the age of just nine by the Taliban. Violence against women and girls remains one of the world's most pervasive human rights abuses, affecting one in three women globally. When the UK co-hosts a major conference on the future of international development in London this week, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will place women and girls at the centre of UK foreign policy as part of an 'international mission' to enable women to live 'free from fear'. We should be angry that such protection is even necessary.
And we should be livid, lit up, and furious in the wake of the Epstein files revelations, which expose many powerful men who treated young women like paper napkins in a diner: to be used up, torn, and thrown away. If you are angry too, I understand. I feel it. I bleed it, right along with you.
Channeling Anger into Action
The issue, however, is what to do with all that rage. If you believe, as I do, that anger can be a fuel for good, to galvanise us and prompt action, then you will want to know where to direct it. Anger about racism and bigotry in the political landscape propelled half a million of us to march against the far-right a few months ago.
This month, I have been thinking about how I process my own fury after becoming part of a collective of 'angry women' called ALL THE RAGE, comprising over 70 female-identifying and non-binary playwrights and artists. Together, we have written an urgent collective theatrical response to the release of the Epstein files, which will be showcased at Theatre Deli in Leadenhall, London, from 11 to 13 June. I have written a poem for a space dedicated to 'Letter to My Younger Self'. It will be performed by an actor as part of a two-hour, site-responsive, and immersive production that confronts institutional silence, cultural complicity, and the enduring history of misogyny. I would love for you to come and see it. This is my anger. Now tell me yours.
How to Receive the Independent Women Newsletter
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