Is a woman’s anger viewed differently?

A woman and her husband are dining out with a group of friends, the service is horrible, the food is horrible, and requests from the table are met with a smarmy attitude from the waiter. The bill arrives with gratuities included. Finally the woman has had enough. She complains to the maître d’ and demands that the dinner bill be adjusted to reflect the substandard service. The other couples are shocked and embarrassed that this woman complained and furthermore requested a discount on the bill. If this had been her husband’s action, would the couples have reacted the same?

Another woman is at work, the stress to meet a deadline is hanging over her head like the Sword of Damocles and her assistant asks a question that the woman has already answered several times. Suddenly she snaps and harshly spouts off about the necessity to pay attention. This woman’s colleagues are shocked and frown upon her actions. Yet, just one day earlier, a male colleague exuded a similar display of emotion and no one so much as blinked an eye.

Daily life is stressful and each of us is most likely going to hit the anger button on occasion, violent outbursts of anger are not what I’m speaking of and those, male or female, that display such behaviors need to check themselves. People get angry all the time in a variety of situations but is a woman’s anger viewed differently? How many times have you witnessed a woman get angry and also witnessed the disapproving reactions of others? How many times have you said, “She’s just hormonal” or even said that about yourself? Why is a woman’s display of anger seen as “emotional” or “hormonal” but a man displaying the same actions is seen as “just being a typical male”?

Maybe it’s time to set the record straight. Anger is not an exclusive, God given, male emotion. If a women is angry it ain’t cause she’s hormonal or overly emotional, you probably screwed something up that she now has to fix! Setting jest aside, both men and women at times get angry. Perhaps approaching anger with the gender extracted may diffuse the upset a little faster.