Women, Anger and the Web

With all of the anonymous insults being thrown around on the internet these days, do you ever wonder about the sex of the poster? Do you think it's mainly men who are the supposed angrier sex so the insults must be coming from them? Think again. Research from a British study of 22000 people over 50 years shows that women are the angrier sex. Heather Joshi, the study co-author, states, "Our study show that women report being angry far more often than men do."

IT is the research finding every man suspected, and every women will vehemently disagree with - women are the angrier sex.

New research that examined the responses of 22,000 people over 50 years has found that women are more likely to feel angry and persistently frustrated than men.

They also are more likely to act on their frustration in an unhealthy manner, choosing passive aggression over non-violent confrontation, psychologists say.

And Hell really has no fury like a woman scorned, as thirtysomething women with no partner are far more likely to report angry feelings than those with partners....

Dr Dryden, who runs a clinical practice in London, said his work with patients suggests women respond to anger in a less constructive manner than men.

He said: "Instead of using it as an opportunity for assertion, they tend not to deal with it directly, often becoming passively aggressive, talking behind people's backs, or taking feelings out on other people.

The researchers speculate that women's anger is prompted by feelings of powerlessness caused by "entrenched sexism in modern society." As opposed to what, less sexism in ancient society? When sexism was more prevalent, women were even more "ladylike." Today's women are encouraged to express anger in our "you go, girl" culture but instead of using anger constructively, women continue to take the mean-girl routes, talking behind people's backs, avoiding confrontation and personal responsibility for their anger by being anonymous and/or passive aggressive in their approach. What this leads to is probably... more anger.

The solution? Try healthier, more constructive ways of using anger--like confronting others directly (like on Blogging Heads TV). Perhaps by using anger more constructively, women will learn that anger is an emotion that can be helpful, but not if acted out in a passive-aggressive manner where one does not take responsibility for their feelings. Being angry in a direct and open manner where one owns up to their feelings is more likely to be helpful. This also means understanding the boundaries of anger and not pushing the boundaries into something physical etc. when that level is not called for. Women don't seem to understand anger, and our society in general does not help with this. So, women either explode in a generalized "anger at the world" way or act in a passive-aggressive manner so they can dump on others without any responsibility.

It would be interesting to do a study of all of the anonymous posters of insults on various blogs around the web and see if proportionally, there are as many (or more) women who pen the insults (I am not talking here about discussing issues--I mean ad hominem attacks). Because if that is the case, that more women are behind the anonymous insults, it indicates that deep down, women have learned little from feminism over the last years--they are still too afraid to come out in the open in an assertive and constructive manner. They are still, ultimately, too intimidated to take real responsibility for their actions. It's no wonder they are so angry.

Update: If you have a girl or know a girl and want to understand more about the underground culture of aggression in girls, try reading Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons. It's a bit too PC for my taste, but Simmons does a good job of describing the dynamics of how girls behave aggressively with each other. What a waste of youthful time!