“Because I am a Black person, my anger is considered dangerous, explosive, and unwarranted. Because I am a woman, my anger supposedly reveals an emotional problem or gets dismissed as a temporary state that will go away once I choose to be rational.”
Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Linda hosts One-Liner Wednesday. Check out her blog for the rules and to see who else is participating this week.
Riddle from the Middle 
That’s exactly why change is needed so badly. Some are allowed to express emotions and others are not.
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I think we’d be a much healthier world if everyone – men AND women – expressed emotion more freely.
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It’s just sad that women’s emotions are always turned into something bad or unrealistic. We feel what we feel and it would be much better to stand and ask us why than to sit and judge.
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Agreed. And speaking as someone who wasn’t allowed to express anger growing up I had to do a lot of work just to learn how to feel this freaking emotion without falling apart — ACK!
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I don’t remember my parents asking us to hold back our emotions, even though I believe they held back some of theirs – both fairly stoic people. I was probably opposite of you – mom and dad didn’t hug and kiss their kids much, so I had to let go of that suppression as an adult. Now, you can’t stop me from hugging if the other person is willling.
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Mine kept negative emotions behind closed doors. I don’t remember them specifically *telling* us to hold back emotions — either I sensed it from a reaction to me being upset or I thought it wasn’t okay since I never saw them do it.
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Sad that this remains the case…
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Honestly, Dan, what on earth is wrong with people?
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spot on and infuriating
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it is indeed
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Yes, women are unstable and block people are unreasonably angry. Well said! Thanks for sharing
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That is definitely the perception. I’ve found people have a similar reaction (though I’m sure to a much lesser degree since I am white) when I am angry. I get questions about what else might be bothering me or the comment “do you think you might be overreacting?” For whatever reasons it seems very difficult for this country to automatically accept anger from a woman as they do from a man.
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Yes, they’d even wonder if it’s “that time of the month”
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I HATE THAT QUESTION. My daughter’s gotten it more than once and I swear it brings out the violence in me…
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I know, if only men went through this
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