Rage rooms: demand is surging and 90% of customers are women

"Hang on, rage rooms aren't new, are they? No, the idea of charging people to smash stuff up safely as a form of commercialised catharsis reportedly emerged in Japan in 2008, around the same time Chicago entrepreneur Donna Alexander started charging people $5 to break things in her garage. But it really went global in 2015 and 2016. Ah, yes, the Brexit vote, the first Trump administration angry times. Makes sense."

"So, what's new? They're booming again, especially with women. The Times reports bookings at Virgin's Ultimate Xtreme Rage Room are up 219%. Weston-super-Mare's Activity Dome has seen a surge of 150%, and 90% of them are women. Funny, I never imagined Weston-super-Mare as a particularly angry place. Oh, it's seething. And the local rage room is a very popular emotional outlet for ladies who want to relieve work, relationship and childcare stress, according to manager Tyler Austin."

"So what's bringing women to rage rooms are we getting angrier? Yep in 2022, BBC analysis of Gallup polling data from around the world showed women's anger levels rising over the preceding decade. In 2017 (when #MeToo went mainstream) they started diverging from men and by 2021, there was a 6% gender anger gap. Women taking on a disproportionate caring burden during the pandemic definitely didn't help. Nor did the recent rollback of reproductive rights in the US, I reckon."

Rage rooms began around 2008 in Japan and via a Chicago garage experiment, then spread globally by 2015–2016 amid volatile political moments. Commercial rage-room bookings have surged recently, with major venues reporting large percentage increases and a high proportion of female participants. Many women use rage rooms to vent work, relationship, and childcare stress and to respond to everyday irritations and gendered slights. Global polling shows women's anger rose over the preceding decade, diverging from men after 2017 and producing a measurable gender anger gap by 2021. Contributing factors include pandemic caregiving, reproductive-rights rollbacks, and persistent pay inequalities.

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