Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger

In Good and Mad, Traister tracks the history of female anger as political fuel—from suffragettes marching on the White House to office workers vacating their buildings after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Traister explores women’s anger at both men and other women; anger between ideological allies and foes; the varied ways anger is received based on who’s expressing it; and the way women’s collective fury has become transformative political fuel. She deconstructs society’s (and the media’s) condemnation of female emotion (especially rage) and the impact of their resulting repercussions.

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336 pages

Average rating: 7.43

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E Clou
May 10, 2023
9/10 stars
10 million stars. I'm recommending this to everyone. Despite the large number of books I've been reading about feminism, this one is still transformative. Has the slow trickle of oppression been why I've been just sloshing around in a vague depressed state for the last decade? I think so. It's like having someone snap their fingers in front of your face until you awaken to how powerful passionate (angry) groups of women can be, and how all this squashing of emotion has been maintaining a terrible status quo.

Here are some things I'm ENRAGED about:
1) That time Trump suggested “the second amendment people” murder Hillary. What an attack on democracy to suggest people murder your political opponent! What a monstrous-woman-abusing thing to say! What a monstrous pro-gun-for-murder thing to say. How he so lightly endangers the secret service too. RAGE.
2) Total inaction in the face of global warming. Goodbye, humanity. Sorry future grandkids, no planet for you.
3) School shootings. My son had to hide during a lockdown THIS WEEK. This is his third lockdown. He is in second grade. I AM SO ANGRY, I CRY ABOUT THIS.
4) Kids in detention camps. If this doesn't make you enraged, you might be suffering from mild-to-intense sociopathy.
5) The Supreme Court is at least 33% misogynistic men: Kavanaugh, Thomas, Gorsuch. I cannot get over the appointment of Kavanaugh in particular because it was such a clear FUCK YOU to American women.
6) Do women in the US even have equal legal rights? According to numerous respected conservative/originalist scholars, no. https://legalinsurrection.com/2011/01/more-dumbed-down-talk-about-the-constitution-from-a-you-know-who
7) The number of Americans that are totally unaware of the oppressive history of our country, how this has built systemic injustice that is still completely relevant.
8) The very idea that "the war on Christmas" is real, but that institutional racism and sexism is not real or is individually surmountable. Remember all those men that got harassed at work because they celebrate Christmas? Those kids that got sent to detention camps because they are Christian? Nope, me neither.

ROAR!!!

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