Hi and welcome to Anger Management.
I’m Ellen and these are some weapons for anger I have made. I have made them for seven women that I know and care for in order to help them express their anger and dismantle their ideas on how they are allowed to do so.
Because that’s the thing. We have ideas of how we are allowed to express ourselves and our anger. As women we even question our own anger’s validity. No wonder; we are conditioned to by the patriarchal structures we are brought up in. Narratives of anger has historically been a tool for oppression, used by whoever holds power to place blame on the actual anger rather on whatever they did to cause it. Invalidating anger and uprising against any injustice by pathologization and situating anger within peoples bodies, uteruses and skin colors are so commonplace that we hardly notice it. This means that we internalize harmful ideas of our anger being our own fault, too much, and overreactive.
If you are interested in reading in depth about this issue and my project you can here.
If you don’t feel like reading but feel like this resonates with you I have made an instruction on how you can make your own weapon for anger. The weapon is made to – in it’s materialization – help remind you of your anger. Repeatedly using it slowly helps with unlearning what we, as women, have been conditioned to do: behaving nicely, not being too loud and controlling our anger for the benefit of those in power. The weapon is also made as a tool to help you express your anger. It is a megaphone and you can scream through it.
If you like to you can make this weapon for someone else who might need it. Being confidently angry and disruptive as a woman takes support. Give it freely!
Enjoy.