Today I want to talk to you a little more about Imposterism. Notice I didn’t call it a syndrome? When imposterism was first discussed in the late 70’s, it was called the imposter phenomenon. Somewhere along the way it got rebranded in pop culture as a syndrome.
But we know the majority of successful people question their professional legitimacy a good amount of the time, and imposterism is more likely to affect women and minorities. When you’ve been told you don’t belong in certain spaces (e.g., women in STEM, trans* folks in certain sports or bathroom), worries about being exposed as a fraud abound. Imposterism can be a symptom of social oppression. It does not reflect a disordered psyche.
Words matter. So join me in changing the lexicon. Let’s do away with imposter ‘syndrome’ and try using the imposter phenomenon, imposterism, the imposter experience, and the imposter voice (most of have one!).
My feel-goodie of the month: |