The Imposter Myth: Why "Imposter Syndrome" is a Corporate Gaslighting Tool
Stop telling women and minorities to fix their self-esteem. It’s time to fix the room instead. We’ve all seen the articles. They pop up on our feeds with exhausting regularity, usually targeting women, people of color, and marginalized professionals: “5 Ways to Conquer Your Imposter Syndrome,” “How to Fake It Until You Make It,” or “Overcoming the Inner Critic.” The narrative is always the same: You are talented, you earned your spot, but you have a psychological glitch. You suffer from an irrational fear of being exposed as a fraud. The solution? Fix yourself. Meditate. Take a confidence workshop. Work on your self-esteem. But what if we’ve been looking at the problem completely backward? What if feeling like an imposter isn’t a personal psychological flaw at all? What if it’s a completely sane, logical reaction to a toxic, exclusionary workplace culture? It’s time to call "Imposter Syndrome" what it often truly is: a corporate gaslighting tool that pathologizes systemic...
