In a world increasingly fraught with stress, anxiety and frustration, many people are searching for ways to manage their emotions. One such method gaining attention on the internet is “rage ritual”, in which women are paying thousands of dollars in the United States to participate in screaming ceremonies and breaking objects. The ritual is meant to effectively release pent-up anger. The ceremony is usually held in forests where women unleash lungfuls of deafening shrieks and use sticks to beat objects on the ground.
Participants are encouraged to think of people and experiences that have wronged them and to scream and swing the sticks for at least 20 minutes, or until they can no longer move their arms.
“It’s like, ‘Don’t be a bitch’ or ‘Don’t be angry’ or ‘Don’t be aggressive’ or ‘Don’t stand up for yourself,’ ‘Don’t protect your integrity,’ ‘Don’t tell anyone that they don’t have consent to touch your body or speak to you in a certain way.’ There are particular emotions that are accepted in the gender binary that we each need to feel. Men need to cry – and it’s so healthy for men to cry – and women need to be able to get angry,” Mia Banducci, who holds such rituals, told USA Today.
She has held many such ceremonies, which have evolved from small events for friends to overnight retreats. One such endeavour ranges from $2,000 to $4,000 in cost.
There is a shorter one-day version too that costs $222 per ticket.
Kimberly Helmus, one of the participants, revealed what she feels about the ceremony.
“There’s no place where you can see women be able to be angry like that and it not be condemned: ‘She’s just hormonal. She’s just unhinged. She’s just crazy. She’s just on her period. She’s just, whatever.’ This was a place where you were, probably for the first time in a really, really long time, if ever, able to scream out loud things about how you felt,” Ms Helmus told the outlet.
She took part in a rage ritual two and a half years after her divorce.
These ceremonies have gone viral on TikTok, where they have resonated with women. Many of them have described how they feel to see other women vent out their anger – something that they say society discourages them from doing.
And while venting out, some unexpected emotions also arise. Ms Helmus said instead of anger against her husband, she felt the grief she’d been holding onto since witnessing the death of a friend when she was 15.
Psychotherapists, however, say there is one-size-fits-all solution to deal with anger. Psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis told USA Today that some people handle rage with activating strategies, like hitting a punching bag or doing an intense workout. For others, soothing strategies, like deep breaths, slow walks or calm music, work better.
