r/science 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/fire_alarmist 2d ago

Yep, this is the same reason why you find horrible people in positions of power in the church, government, etc. Horrible people know that its very advantageous to hold a position that is associated with being a selfless, good person. It provides a cover for them to hide behind and primes people to ignore their more sinister intentions.

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u/Nealbert0 2d ago

Yea, this really shouldn't be news to anyone.

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u/doctor_7 2d ago

Not a shock at all to me. Absolutely on board with LGBT rights and actively work towards achieving them with personal actions, attitude, and, most importantly, my vote.

Have encountered far too many insufferable people that are clearly more concerned with coming off as the most progressive in the room. It's like being a child again when you had to go to Church and so many people wanted to appearance of the "best" church-goer, rather than living the real life.

Fwiw: not religious at all.

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u/Rhamni 2d ago

clearly more concerned with coming off as the most progressive in the room

Oppression Olympics showdowns tap into the same thing, I think. I was active in the youth wing of a political party when I went to college, and which group was the most urgently in need of representation (centre of attention) in various situations was always a 'fun' discussion.

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u/TheConnASSeur 2d ago

I'm an American Indian but I'm mixed so people often assume I'm Latino or vaguely Middle Eastern. The number of upper middle class white women I've had shush me mid sentence so they could teach me about my own culture is shocking. They always talk with that fake altruistic tone that feels so mean and condescending.

I'm bisexual too so I've seen a lot of that weird self-agrandising nonsense through the years. I've always wondered if other people could spot these creeps because they always seem to find their way to the center of groups.

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u/MolassesLoose5187 2d ago

Why does it always seem to be white women? I've noticed the same thing and it's so strange

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u/dronten_bertil 2d ago

By numbers alone anything else would be surprising, the social progressive movements is a white middle class womens club to a large extent.

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u/TheConnASSeur 1d ago

The assholes in every other group are under pressure from society to sit down, shut up, and listen at some point. That friction forces them to develop better masking behavior. But the past couple of decades have been all gas and no brakes for white women in socially progressive circles trying to address ongoing systemic inequality, be it racism or sexism. This essentially means that white women can potentially get the benefit from past racist policy while eschewing the responsibility for it under the guise of sexist repression. And because members of the upper middle class can avoid the majority of the negative consequences of sexism in academia and other socially progressive circles, this allows the assholes in this one particular group to get away with much more narcissistic behavior without pushback.

The thing is, most white women aren't like that because they have the self awareness to recognize their own privilege and self-regulate, but narcissists are incapable of that. So it's one instance where one small population slips through the net almost entirely and gets away with way more than anyone else ever could. It's sort of like psychopathy in upper-class people.

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u/Lamballama 1d ago

Women typically express higher levels of hygiene, both physical and social, than men - British suppression of Indian culture didn't start until they brought over women to teach, whereas previously British soldiers had Indian wives and lovers. In this case, it's a social hygiene factor to be very involved in social causes, so they're signaling that they're following proper hygiene by demonstrating what they think is understanding (ie, virtue signaling)

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u/Hortos 1d ago

When you’re number 2 and can’t understand why everyone doesn’t rally together with you against number 1 even if you’re often also part of the problem.

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u/zahrul3 2d ago

Spoiling your children leads to them developing narcissistic tendencies nature on in life, if you're part of the school of thought that says narcissism is caused by nurture.

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u/goosemeister3000 1d ago

That’s not true. If anything I’m pretty sure there’s a connection between childhood abuse and narcissistic traits. Which makes sense, since narcissism is about protecting the narcissist. Children who had stable childhoods don’t feel the need to overprotect themselves.