Over my time at York St John I have developed my writing style and specifically taken an interest in modules which include academic writing. In my academic writing I have developed a specialism of sorts, as when given the choice, the majority of the time I choose to write about feminist theory and feminist issues within performance. This is why, when it came to writing and researching for my dissertation I chose to focus on what is currently a hotly debated topic in the feminist sphere; female anger. Just a simple google and you can see countless books, articles, research papers etc all published within the last 5 years on the topic.

          My Dissertation was titled The myth of anger as an unfeminine trait in contemporary performance practice and it explored the modern perception of female anger and how this perception has been affected by contemporary performance. This work was notably influenced by the writing of Soraya Chemalay in her book Rage Becomes Her (2018). On the outset, I explain how women’s anger has been demonised by the patriarchy to actively oppress women. This has been achievevd by socialising women and young girls to believe that anger as unbecoming and shameful. This has been explored by several studies, including one by Deborah Cox who found that:

In the focus group interviews, several women told us they felt that their anger was disabling. They felt ashamed of feeling angry and tried to control it, hide it, and apologize for it. (University of California: 2000, www.sciencedaily.com)

This is significant because by “Effectively severing anger from good womanhood” as Chemlay notes, “we chose to sever girls and women from the emotion that best protects us against danger and injustice.” (Chemlay, 2018: xxi) Anger has specific political power in that it allows those who express it to facilitate change by demanding to be heard.

          I then go on to explain how this has been mirrored in mass media, with reference to events such as Serena Willims’ penalisation in the 2018 US Open tennis tournament as well as looking at how this has seeped into theatre, exploring Amparo Garcia-Crow’s gendering of rage in Under A Western Sky (2009). The final section however looks at how the notion of anger as an unfeminine trait has been challenged by contemporary performance and performance art.

          To do this, I looked at Pipilotti Rist’s installation piece Ever Is Overall (1997) which I found to have had significant pop culture impact, as well as looking at Pussy Riot as a case study in and overtly angry feminist group, which has used their rage to make themselves heard. Overall, it is my belief that artists like Rist and those involved in Pussy Riot are making female anger more accessible to women and thereby more likely to display their own anger.

          This module allowed me to more deeply explore a topic which has interested me for some time and also allowed me to see how my writing ability and style has evolved over my three years of study.

Bibliography
Chemaly, S. (2018). Rage Becomes Her. London: SIMON & SCHUSTER LTD.
Rist, P. (1997). Ever Is Overall.
University Of California, San Francisco. (2000, January 31). Comparison Of Anger Expression In Men And Women Reveals Surprising Differences. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 7, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/01/000131075609.htm