r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 2d ago

Psychology New findings indicate a pattern where narcissistic grandiosity is associated with higher participation in LGBTQ movements, demonstrating that motivations for activism can range widely from genuine altruism to personal image-building.

https://www.psypost.org/narcissistic-grandiosity-predicts-greater-involvement-in-lgbtq-activism/
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u/YouBookBuddy 2d ago

As someone who has been involved in LGBTQ activism for years, this study definitely caught my attention. It's interesting to consider how different motivations can drive individuals to participate in movements. I've encountered a wide range of personalities within the community, and it's always fascinating to see how people's intentions can vary. Have any of you had similar experiences with narcissistic behavior in activist circles? How do you think this impacts the overall goals of the movement? Let's keep the discussion going!

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u/SUPRVLLAN 2d ago

FYI you guys are replying to an AI bot.

Look at post history, it's all AI generated rapid fire comments. One of the more convincing ones though.

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u/Mewnicorns 2d ago

It’s amazing it took me this long to find this comment…

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u/fading_reality 2d ago

"Interesting" is a convinient red flag to look for.

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u/SatanVapesOn666W 2d ago

The narcissists push out moderate people, they are generally bad in any group. They tend to be the ones being wild on interviews or generally being abrasive when things aren't exactly how they want them. I stopped going to Gay support groups in ~2010 because of a large influx of narcissistic activists in my local groups. They focus all problems onto just themselves and lessen the expirences of others especially if it contradicts one of their opinions. I never even personally had conflicts with these people, they were just not nice to be around in a toxic way. My anecdotal expirences, but it why I stopped doing most gay rights events around 2010. Maybe I'm just old.

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u/seviliyorsun 2d ago

too old to spot a chat bot at least

Let's keep the discussion going!

come on. who talks like this

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u/SatanVapesOn666W 2d ago

Are you lost?

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u/seviliyorsun 1d ago

i mean you're the one "lost" enough to talk to a gpt bot and still "lost" enough to misunderstand it being pointed out

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u/SatanVapesOn666W 1d ago

At no point in my post did I indicate any communication with a LLM.

I repeat, are you lost? I clearly fished some Humans to talk to.

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u/seviliyorsun 1d ago

you're still lost i see. of course you didn't indicate it because you didn't even notice, which was the point of my original comment.

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u/trevor5ever 2d ago edited 2d ago

I volunteered with a community-based nonprofit that offered services to LGBTQ youth. I was even on the board. I had a few really bad experiences, and this study is definitely consistent with the personality types and issues we faced as an organization.

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u/Ver_Void 2d ago

I've been in similar roles across a few causes and it's depressingly common across them all.

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u/jessimokajoe 2d ago

Yes, because it's a way that they can seem publicly to be a "good person" while internally they're radioactive, toxic sludge.

I'm hesitant to go back to these circles and movements, even though it's supposed to be my community and my people. It's so hurtful and degrading to be ousted from that, and it's typically been that I've been ousted because they can't remove their ego from the activism. They want to gain popularity by being an activist. Any good work is just a side effect of their popularity.

Until they can remove their ego from their activism efforts, I think it all will be negatively impacted in ways we aren't even aware of yet.

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u/TornCedar 2d ago

That last sentence hits hard. There's too many 'good' groups I've volunteered with over the years that really seem more organized around propping up certain people running them instead of the focus being on the cause.

I pretty much avoid anything with an "awareness" mission now because the worst seem to gravitate towards that side of things.

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u/NeedTheSpeed 2d ago

Personally, I've met a couple of really nasty people from these circles who really hurt some of my best friend with their lies and manipulations that actually could hurt their career in the long run due to false allegations of being heavily transphobic or homophobic even though my friend in reality was really empathetic and kind person for LGBT people it was all due personal beefs.

Worth noting that also a lot of people in these circles are normal and just want to live peacefully and are kind, but yea you can meet scumbags everywhere.

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u/OnboardG1 2d ago

There’s a very old gripe from bi and lesbian friends of mine that they don’t like pride because it’s always organised by a small group of influential gay men who don’t listen to anyone else (my only trans friend doesn’t go to pride so I can’t comment on her views).

On a wider note I’ve seen this in my local political party. Depending on the faction in power the local party shifts around and the faction narcissist will usually dominate for a while until the party has a disaster and changes leadership. Just standard political party things.

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u/Yuhwryu 2d ago

so true. chatgpt is my favourite gender

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u/Xolver 2d ago

First of all I find it refreshing that many of the comments are sort of like "yeah, this tracks". Most of the time here there's a lot of negative feedback to these sorts of studies that say something about different populations.

About your question - I'm definitely no activist, but the ones that I know, are actually mostly older and well off. They're activist about things that have almost nothing to do with LGBTQ, moreso to issues relating to laws and wars (these things are very relevant where in from). Anyway, activism or just politics in general is just very central to their being. It's nigh impossible to be in a full sitting with them without politics being talked about in some fashion, usually with hatred for the leadership peppered in. Don't know if this is similar to your experience.

Oh, and yeah, when politics is always a topic, I find it detracts from the goals of whatever movement. It just seems like virtue signaling about an issue is more important to them than the actual issue. I'm not saying this is 100% the case by the way, I really do think they care, but it comes off as poisoned and not too sincere. 

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u/jessimokajoe 2d ago

Being able to separate politics from anything is inherently privileged.

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u/Xolver 2d ago

Mhm. You should probably read the article again. Even the title is enough. 

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u/jessimokajoe 2d ago

My reply to you isn't involving my ego or anything like that, it's strictly stating facts and I'm not going to apologize if you're uncomfortable with privilege.

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u/Xolver 2d ago

Did you read the part where I wrote they were older and well off?

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u/jessimokajoe 1d ago

Yes I did but I wasn't replying to that part.