A Woman Scorned

by Jessica Wakeman

Mental Floss has a juicy top-five list up: “Five Scorned Women Get Their Revenge.” But it’s a chin-scratcher! Yeah, yeah, we understand Mental Floss is all smart and stuff, but we’re unfamiliar with almost all of historical these tales of revenge. Boudicca? Lady Mao? The Chochiti tribe? I’m sorry, who?

Maybe Mental Floss had no choice but to dip way far back into both history and obscurity. Despite the adage “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” there aren’t a lot of contemporary examples — other than the extreme ones, like Lorena Bobbitt and Ivana “Don’t get mad, get everything” Trump. But damned if I’m ever going to let a member of the Trump family serve as an example for anything. (I, for one, almost stuff the contents of a takeout sushi dinner in ex’s dresser drawers after being dumped — but emphasis on the almost!)

No, a stiff upper lip seems to be the way, especially if you’re a politico’s wife: Hillary Clinton, Silda Spitzer, Dina Matos McGreevy, Cecilia Sarkokzy.

Even actresses, who are given freer emotional range than the “wife of…” types, seem pretty composed in the face of a low-down, rotten, cheatin’ dog: think Uma Thurman (the ex: Ethan Hawke), Jennifer Aniston (the ex: Brad Pitt), and Mary-Louise Parker (the ex: Billy Crudup).

Help us…ladies on “reality” dating shows notwithstanding, can you think of contemporary scorned women who made sure there was hell to pay? Or are we right, and this stereotype’s outdated?