Trusted, Automoderated users
25,837
edits
Shyness: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→female stigmatization
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
Shyness in women and children has traditionally been seen as endearing and ‘cute’ (Scott 2004a)<ref>.Scott, S. (2004a) The shell, the stranger and the competent other: towards a sociology of shyness, Sociology, 38, 1, 121–37.</ref>, and men are given more social stigma as being shy. Media representations of shy male characters focus on the barriers this poses to success at work and in personal relationships (Scott 2003),<ref>Scott, S. (2003) Towards a Sociology of Shyness. PhD thesis. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.</ref> where the shyness in romantic situations (Gilmartin 1987)<ref>Gilmartin, B.G. (1987) Shyness and Love: Causes, Consequences and Treatment. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.</ref> implies a tragic, “failure”, to assert one’s masculinity. Shyness is shown as a ‘feminine’ trait in the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem 1974)<ref>Bem, S.L. (1974) The measurement of psychological androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 152–62.</ref>, alongside moodiness, gullibility, soft-spokenness, compassion and unpredictability. Being, “mentally healthy”, typically implies masculine instead of feminine traits (Broverman et al. 1970)<ref>Broverman, I.K., Broverman, D.M., Clarkson, F.E. Rosencrantz, P.S. and Vogel, S.R. (1970). Sex-role stereotypes and clinical judgements of mental health, Journal of Counselling and Clinical Psychology, 34, 1, 1–7.</ref>. Therefore, shyness being a feminine trait would explain why shyness has been seen as an undesirable attribute, particularly in men. Besides mainstream culture, the relatively underground network of men’s websites acknowledge this phenomena as well, just more to-the-point: | Shyness in women and children has traditionally been seen as endearing and ‘cute’ (Scott 2004a)<ref>.Scott, S. (2004a) The shell, the stranger and the competent other: towards a sociology of shyness, Sociology, 38, 1, 121–37.</ref>, and men are given more social stigma as being shy. Media representations of shy male characters focus on the barriers this poses to success at work and in personal relationships (Scott 2003),<ref>Scott, S. (2003) Towards a Sociology of Shyness. PhD thesis. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.</ref> where the shyness in romantic situations (Gilmartin 1987)<ref>Gilmartin, B.G. (1987) Shyness and Love: Causes, Consequences and Treatment. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.</ref> implies a tragic, “failure”, to assert one’s masculinity. Shyness is shown as a ‘feminine’ trait in the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem 1974)<ref>Bem, S.L. (1974) The measurement of psychological androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 152–62.</ref>, alongside moodiness, gullibility, soft-spokenness, compassion and unpredictability. Being, “mentally healthy”, typically implies masculine instead of feminine traits (Broverman et al. 1970)<ref>Broverman, I.K., Broverman, D.M., Clarkson, F.E. Rosencrantz, P.S. and Vogel, S.R. (1970). Sex-role stereotypes and clinical judgements of mental health, Journal of Counselling and Clinical Psychology, 34, 1, 1–7.</ref>. Therefore, shyness being a feminine trait would explain why shyness has been seen as an undesirable attribute, particularly in men. Besides mainstream culture, the relatively underground network of men’s websites acknowledge this phenomena as well, just more to-the-point: | ||
== | ==Female stigmatization== | ||
Women are | Women are stigmatized in a gendered way by shyness-as-disorder as well. For example, in the context of established relationships (Giddens 1991)<ref>Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press | ||
</ref>. This “newly discovered insideous problem” is described as a woman’s inability to assert herself to a point that it poses a serious threat to a particular view of how, “life-politics”, should be. Shyness in women is often seen in western culture as just another, “female malady” (Showalter 1985)<ref>Showalter, E. (1985) The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture 1830–1980. New York: Pantheon</ref>, as some sort of unnecessarily feminine behaviour. | </ref>. This “newly discovered insideous problem” is described as a woman’s inability to assert herself to a point that it poses a serious threat to a particular view of how, “life-politics”, should be. Shyness in women is often seen in western culture as just another, “female malady” (Showalter 1985)<ref>Showalter, E. (1985) The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture 1830–1980. New York: Pantheon</ref>, as some sort of unnecessarily feminine behaviour. | ||