Women’s Experience of Rage: A Critical Feminist Analysis

Abstract

We conducted in-depth interviews with 37 incarcerated women on their experience of rage towards their intimate partner. Participants used specific criteria to distinguish their experience of rage from anger. Rage is described as an overwhelming experience with particular physiological and cognitive changes that takes control of a woman's emotions and actions. In contrast, anger is described as a controllable emotion with a specific termination point. Motivations for acting violently in rage with an intimate partner are described and discussed. Findings suggest a primary trigger for experiencing rage is feeling threatened and feeling emotionally overwhelmed.

Triggering Rage: Unresolved Trauma in Women’s Lives

“…Although some women may internalize abusive experiences in a highly contained way, which manifest through clinical diagnoses such as depression (McGuigan and Middlemiss 2005;Sullivan et al 2005) or anorexia-nervosa (Laporte and Guttman 2001), along with acts of self-mutilation (Currier 2004), other women may externalize those experiences through rage that involves acts of violence and aggression (Flemke 2006;Flemke and Allen 2008). What was learned from this particular group of women was that triggers for rage may be rooted in past wounds of abuse and other victimization.…”

“…Similarly, research on the experience of rage depicts emotional precursors that quickly escalate prior to its detonation, such as feeling intense fear due to feeling threatened and feeling overwhelmed (Flemke 2006;Flemke and Allen 2008). As these intense emotions build and culminate, a sense of feeling emotionally and physically ''out of control'' occurs that often erupts in violence.…”

“…Women also have been found to use violence when experiencing internalized stress or homophobia (Balsam and Szymanski 2005), while other women report using violence as a way to get attention (Harned 2001;Olson and Lloyd 2005). Additional motivations for women resorting to violence include expressing jealousy (Emery and Lloyd 1994;Follingstad et al 1991), experiencing depression Swan et al 2005), feeling helpless and frustrated over their inability to express themselves verbally (Harned 2001), expressing anger (Dasgupta 2002;Feeny et al 2000;Swan et al 2005), and feeling rage, which was distinguished from anger by distinct characteristics such as an overwhelming feeling of being ''out of control'' (Flemke and Allen 2008). These advances notwithstanding, we still know very little about how past trauma impacts women's current acts of rage and violence towards their intimate partners.…”

Gender Differences in Attitudinal Acceptance of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Under Attachment-Relevant Contexts

“…Some of the variables that have been identified in the literature include the perceived threat of infidelity (Flemke & Allen, 2008;Goetz & Shackelford, 2006;Kaighobadi et al, 2009;Starratt, Goetz, Shackelford, McKibbin, & Stewart-Williams, 2008), the perceived threat of a loss of control over a partner (Hamby, 1996;Stuart et al, 2006;Sugihara & Warner, 2002), and shame-inducing experiences (i.e., public scolding, random punishment, and generic criticism; Dutton, van Ginkel, & Starzomski, 1995;Mills, 2008;Tangney, 1991). However, most theoretical and empirical literature analyzing these theories has focused on men's violence against women in partner relationships.…”

“…In a sample of college students, Bookwala and Zdaniuk (1998) found that attachment anxiety tendencies were associated with dating violence. Follingstad, Bradley, Helff, and Laughlin (2002) found that attachment anxiety in a college sample was indirectly related to dating violence through anger and control. Others have shown that attachment anxiety in either partner increases the likelihood of abuse (Henderson, Bartholomew, Trinke, & Kwong, 2005), although attachment may be more predictive of IPV for avoidantly attached individuals when they are paired with an anxiously attached partner (Bond & Bond, 2004;Doumas, Pearson, Elgin, & McKinley, 2008).…”