"Rage Becomes Her": The Work of Soraya Chemaly

Anger, often dismissed as a negative emotion, holds a profound significance in the lives of women. Soraya Chemaly, a prominent writer and activist, delves into the complexities of women’s anger in her influential work, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger. Through her research and personal experience, Chemaly challenges societal norms that dictate how women should express their emotions, particularly anger.

For Chemaly, anger is an innate human emotion that serves as a response to perceived threats, injustices, or indignities. It acts as a warning signal, alerting individuals to situations that require attention or action. However, societal conditioning often leads girls and women to suppress their anger, viewing it as inappropriate or unfeminine. This suppression can have detrimental effects on mental and physical health and overall well-being.

Chemaly views anger as a catalyst for social change. Her work also highlights the importance of intersectionality in understanding women’s anger. Different components of identity, such as race, class, and sexual orientation, influence how women experience and express anger.

In the next meeting of the Relationship Group Seminar on Saturday, August 23, 2025 (11:45 AM to 1:00 PM), we will discuss in more detail Chemaly’s reframing anger as a legitimate and valuable emotion. We will also consider her recommendations re: strategies for healthy anger expression and how she differentiates assertiveness from aggression. Finally, we will discuss broader implications of her work for men and women, namely, how her perspective may be integrated into the contemporary debate among relationship experts and couples therapists as to the role of patriarchal structures in intimate relationships.

*Registration Directions: If you would like to attend the next meeting of the Relationship Group Seminar on August 23, 2025 (11:45 AM to 1:00 PM), please RSVP to me at 949-338-4388 or [jt@jamestobinphd.com](mailto:jt@jamestobinphd.com) no later than Thursday, August 21, 2025. The seminar will be held at 15615 Alton Parkway, Suite 450, in Irvine, CA. The fee is $30.00 and informed consent for participation must be completed prior to the seminar. Please note that the Relationship Group Seminar is psychoeducational in nature, not therapeutic, and does not constitute psychotherapy or counseling.