The Sound of the Crowd •

It’s not just women, folks

Is it wrong that I totally identified with more than one thing in this piece?

Fels sees deeper roots to the problem. She begins with the psychologists’ insight, derived from object relations theory, that in human development, ambition requires both the drive for mastery and the support of an audience. It’s nice to think that skill and excellence are their own rewards, but we are social creatures who need to be recognized and praised: The ego forms in response to a caregiver who echoes the baby’s utterances, smiles when she smiles, applauds baby’s first steps…

Maya Lin, in a magazine profile after a documentary on her life was nominated for an Academy Award, literally shrinks before the attention, testifying to the value of being small and slight since “people don’t see you.” Lin’s desire for privacy is understandable, notes Fels, yet she did permit a documentary to be made about her. “One can’t help wondering,” Fels writes, “if her palpable unhappiness serves as a kind of preemptive strategy: if she’s already cringing with discomfort and pain, no one else need criticize her for being self-promoting or egotistical.” </a>

Ben Varkentine

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