This week’s first set of articles, I
believe, set up a good bookend to the start of our class on how to carry
oneself with a measure of confidence and assertiveness. While Molina and
Carpenter’s articles emphasize the importance of how one portrays themselves
outwardly, Cain’s writing is a reminder that the end goal is not to change the
core of who one is.
In terms of leadership and what it
means to become a strong leader in any line of work, there must be a balance
struck between being considerate of others’ feelings and remaining confident in
one’s own words and actions, lest one drive oneself crazy with thoughts of
others’ judgments. In my own experience with working with various community
leaders, the most effective leader is always one who values the position of others
over the position of themselves. While an effective leader understands how to
assert themselves, they are not overbearing in their beliefs and are equally a
listener as they are a talker.
Focusing on Cain’s article, “Shyness:
Evolutionary Tactic?” there is an important idea made about the stigma that
society places on those who are naturally an introvert or whose personalities
are inclined to listen rather than speak. One question that could be asked is:
where does this stigma derive its origins from and will researching its sources
give way to eventual changed perceptions? This stigma that a person whose
traits are talkative and outgoing trump that of quiet and introverted leads to
people feeling that they bear a burden merely for who they are. Each person
holds a personality that has its own advantages and disadvantages and society
must not hold one type of personality above another, because in our world of
leaders, diversity in opinion and personality are at the core of what it takes
to be effective and unified.
Additionally, each of these three
articles were pointed in the direction of women who lack confidence, which
gives insight into a gender gap that is rooted in our systemic, patriarchal
society—in general, women are more likely to feel marginalized in professional
settings, and this gives way to half of the population feeling as if their identity
is of lesser importance. For women, gaining the will to be assertive in your
rights and confident in your beliefs becomes the act of “freeing yourself from
the way your body reinforces your presumed place in the social hierarchy”
(Carpenter). Society as a whole, including both men and women, needs to
challenge its inherent assumptions of patriarchal power. At the same time,
however, women need to have a self-realization that with time, they can become comfortable
in a seat of power and they already have the exact same credentials as the man sitting
next to them.
Perhaps studying who the French woman
is will inspire our class to carry ourselves with the same kind of confidence and
embody what all three writers encourage us, as readers, to be…
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