Powerful and Fucking Furious

We focus this chapter on centring women's experiences of trauma, engagement with mental health services and experiences within the heavy music scene. We are interested in how women are able to use engagement with extreme music as a way to embrace identities of rebellion. We consider the intersect with this idea and the way that women (especially those who have experienced trauma) may be labelled by patriarchal mental health systems – for example, the role of righteous anger in women who have survived trauma, and how this may be conceptualised as ‘personality disorder’ in mainstream psychiatry. We reflect on the healing potential of engagement with metal music for women who have experienced trauma. These reflections consider both the emotional processing, empowerment, and positives of engagement with the metal community but also the challenges of being accepted as ‘metal’. We integrate perspectives from female metal fans and performers into this piece, especially those who have had contact with mental health services. We consider the role of performance, attending gigs as a fan and general engagement with the metal scene in relation to the concept of female rebellion.