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Women have taken to screaming in the woods in what are being called rage rituals, and it's all pretty well organized. These "rage retreats" are organized by Kristina McMenamin, who charges $95 per person for 2.5-hour sessions where the women can throw tantrums, freak out, beat up pillows, and release their inner rageaholic.
McMenamin started this undertaking a few years ago in Chicago, where she rented out an empty retail space for $100 and 12 women yelled and screamed to their hearts' content. Now she's got them all over the place, with pop-ups in Atlanta, Austin, London, Porto and Portugal. Another purveyor of rage sessions, Mia Balduci, has also got in on the fun.
She's the one who hosted a scream-out in the woods, sharing video on TikTok showing women picking up sticks, hulking out, and smashing up the forest. They clawed at their faces, mouths open mid-scream, trying to get it all out. Those days' long retreats cost attendees in the thousands. Seems like they could have got in on the cheap by just punching a pillow.
McMenamin told Bloomberg that the reason for all the rage is simply the demands of everyday life, or pressure to be online, or AI, inflation, politics, or whatever. And for her it's become a big business. She's even looking to branch out to have themed rages so women with similar angers can all freak out together. And yes, mostly it's for women. When men want to rage, they typically fight other guys, at least if Fight Club is to be believed.
The rage retreats have safety mechanisms, with so-called "rage doulas" who make sure none of the women actually get hurt and prevent the women from losing control. The idea is to get right up to the brink of madness and then pull it back. And somehow this is considered healthy. Women keep going back. It's like a drug where once a woman accesses that part of insanity she wants more and more. There are at least 5 companies providing this service and some even end with cocktails.
This is not something I would ever consider attending. First off, there are way better uses for my hard-earned cash and I can always go out into the backyard and scream for free, so long as I don't want to disturb my neighbors. Second, approaching the abyss is not something I care to do. All of us are capable of expending the worst aspects of ourselves, of becoming violent, or harming others or ourselves. The trick is to be aware of the monster within and control it, not let it control you.
The triumph is not in screaming and raging but in not screaming and not raging while knowing what we are capable of. Releasing that kind of anger doesn't quench it, it grows it. Becoming our most base selves doesn't make it easier to control those impulses, it makes it harder. Maybe it seems cute and fun, but there's nothing wholesome about intentionally being the worst person you can be.
Libby