116 Quotes by Soraya Chemaly

Anger is a forward-looking emotion, rooted in the idea that there should be change. Resentment, on the other hand, is locked in the past and usually generates no meaningful difference in the situation.

The importance and visibility of women's collective anger can't be overstated. This anger takes determination, thoughtfulness, and work. It means respecting our own anger and being willing to respect the anger of other women.

I have since learned that my rage is a critical part of my self, and it is a part of myself that I have grown to respect and love instead of suppress.

I wanted to own my anger, because it brought me back to myself. It gave me clarity and purpose.

In the coming years, we will hear, again, that anger is a destructive force, to be controlled. Watch carefully, because not everyone is asked to do this in equal measure.

Women should be angry about the violence and fear that inform so much of our lives. So should men.

... if a man gets angry, he's having an off day, if a woman does, she's a raging bitch.

Reenvisioned, anger can be the most feminine of virtues: compassionate, fierce, wise, and powerful. The women I admire most... have all found ways to transform their anger into meaningful change. In them, anger has moved from deliberation to liberation.

Women live their lives trying to create bodies of deference. And anger is not compatible with deference... In the "cosmetic panopticon," expressing anger is disobedient and rebellious, powerful and threatening, because it is the seed of aggression and collective action.