I just read an article on the Onion titled "New Billionaire tries to develop Eccentricities." The article talked about how this billionaire is otherwise a miser in many ways, and consequently somewhat uninteresting, but tries to become famous by spending loads on any expensive activity so that he can be labelled as the 'eccentric California billionaire.'
When people show their true natures, which in many cases can be a shy or relatively uninteresting personality, people say that the person is being reserved or "not coming out" or my personal favorite: "not being herself." So in order for a person to truly become herself according to societal norms, she often has to pretend to be a rowdy socialite in order to be accepted. This kind of advice (though I'm sure she doesn't realize it) is routinely given by people like Tyra Banks in America's Next Top Model: be yourself, aka be exactly like me, loud and obnoxious (I do admire Tyra Banks for her management and leadership skills though).
This kind of pressure to conform to a certain percentage of the population's personalities is not limited to the entertainment industry or to celebrities. One of my best friends used to routinely tell me to come out of my shell and talk to people more, except that I was not in a shell, but just preferred not to talk to people all the time, or to be the center of attraction in a group of people. I preferred speaking to people on a one-on-one basis, and to become the center of attraction by my good work. Why can't extroverts just accept people for being introverts, as bad as the term may sound due to societal stereotypes?? Even at work people assume that introverts don't have leadership skills or aren't fit for promotions, when I know plenty of introverts who can lead a project well; they just aren't a huge fan of socializing during the project!
When people show their true natures, which in many cases can be a shy or relatively uninteresting personality, people say that the person is being reserved or "not coming out" or my personal favorite: "not being herself." So in order for a person to truly become herself according to societal norms, she often has to pretend to be a rowdy socialite in order to be accepted. This kind of advice (though I'm sure she doesn't realize it) is routinely given by people like Tyra Banks in America's Next Top Model: be yourself, aka be exactly like me, loud and obnoxious (I do admire Tyra Banks for her management and leadership skills though).This kind of pressure to conform to a certain percentage of the population's personalities is not limited to the entertainment industry or to celebrities. One of my best friends used to routinely tell me to come out of my shell and talk to people more, except that I was not in a shell, but just preferred not to talk to people all the time, or to be the center of attraction in a group of people. I preferred speaking to people on a one-on-one basis, and to become the center of attraction by my good work. Why can't extroverts just accept people for being introverts, as bad as the term may sound due to societal stereotypes?? Even at work people assume that introverts don't have leadership skills or aren't fit for promotions, when I know plenty of introverts who can lead a project well; they just aren't a huge fan of socializing during the project!
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