Have you ever just felt the need to feel angry?

Like you feel something burning inside of you. Like if you don’t let it out somehow you will explode. Like sometimes you purposely put yourself in certain circumstances which you know will provoke you just so that you have an outlet to channel your fury into. 

This semester I signed up for a course called Women and Literature. Besides for the fact that it interested me, I felt that I could never have truly completed college without taking at least one course that was specifically meant to incite social justice within me. Every time I open up The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Freidan, I feel betrayed and insulted on behalf of the entire female population. Therefore, I figured the same would be true in a class that would literally highlight all of the stereotypes that literature has bestowed upon women. 

When people make assumptions about me because I am a woman, I am angry. When people place me into a box and attempt to morph me into their mold of womanhood, I am angry. When a man tells you that he thinks you could be the one and then ghosts you, I am angry! When he tells you that you’re not only the type of woman he wants, but also exactly the type that his mother wants, and then ignores you, I am angry! And when his preceding behavior has indicated nothing negative toward his person, and when I trusted him to care for me, and when we started planning a future together, and when I believed him when he said that he is not that other guy and would never hurt me. Yet, he somehow manages to switch his love off for me, I am angry at myself.

You made me laugh, you made me cry, I don’t know which side to buy. I even fell for that stupid love song. This is the part of me that you’re never gonna ever take away from me. Talkin’ ’bout, “Girl, I love you, you’re the one.” This just looks like a re-run. You change your mind like a girl changes clothes. ’Cause when he says forever, well, it don’t mean much. A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me. So much for my happy ending. If you thought I would wait for you, you thought wrong. Call me Miss Movin’ On. Here I am, this is me and I’m stronger than you ever thought I’d be. Are you shocked? Are you mad? That you’re missing out on who I really am.

In these moments, I recommend listening to the wise words of women who’ve gone through it too, such as Avril Lavigne or Carrie Underwood, to heighten the fire within you. Blast throwback songs like “Since U Been Gone,” by Kelly Clarkson, “7 Things,” by Miley Cyrus, or “Take a Bow,” by Rihanna. Because everyone who says that femininity is about being quiet and reserved is lying to you. “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” And we now live in a time where, as a woman, you get to decide your own future. 

~ Dorette