Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
I'm convinced that imposter syndrome is a result of girls who try to fit into normative girl culture when it isn't who they actually are. "Being smart" is never part of that normative culture, which is profoundly about appearance and being non-threatening and sexually appealing to others.

I'm not sure anyone "fits" into normative girl culture without significant effort to conform to it, and I'm convinced that it's toxic to anyone.

Ditto normative boy culture. Both are toxic, just in different ways. We're basically talking about people trying to fit into stereotypes, and that's never fun.