Brene Brown enlightened me on various aspects of vulnerability. My initial misconception was that vulnerability was a weakness. This notion seemed to be consisted with Brown’s audience’s reaction, as most of her listener had the same misconception. The speaker made me understand that vulnerability is all about taking emotional risks and takes courage, thereby making vulnerability a show of courage and not weakness.
My father is good at being vulnerable. He takes plenty of risks in investments that at times have very slim chances of success; however, due to the efforts he put in them, he has had series of success along with a few failures. He also expresses his ideas openly, which in other cases sound mediocre to other people.
Brene illustrates that people should be comfortable to expresses themselves emotionally. She, however, states that most people shadow their true emotions by concealing them with words such as "amazing", "perfect" and "fantastic", as they view vulnerabilities as weakness in other people’s eyes.
There are various connections between Brenes talk and the lessons in chapter four, three of which are, connection, vulnerability, and creativity. In both cases, connections are built from the relationship between people; vulnerability is discussed in light of courage and strength to take risks, while creativity was attributed to vulnerability in both accounts.
Change in culture can be very useful in facing shame. Conformity to male and female norms are the reason for the continued existence of shame, the male conformity is to the pursuit of emotional control status, and work, while women are to their appearances. Putting more importance on the general values will help break down this cultural spectrum.
I agree with Brene’s view that shame is organized by gender as women focus on hiding who they are inside, they tend to focus on their outer presentation, thereby concealing their shame, as opposed to me. Men view shame as weakens, and conceal it to stay in control.
The shame gap between men and women can be bridged through the changes in the expectations the society places in women. Gender quality in responsibilities can be the basis of elimination of these norms, which will subsequently, reduces the shame gap between men and women.
Agreeableness personality trait communicates my emotions and influences my experiences as I am more cooperative and companionate.
“Social media requires Facebook,” is one of the 7 fallacies of internet marketing. It influences my behavior as I prefer interacting with people in places where they are most available, in this case, Facebook.
What are the differences between men and women in terms of cultural norms?
Works Cited
Brene Brown. Listening to shame. Dir. Seth MacFarlane. Perf.. 2012.
