Are you an iny or an outy?
Do you show you bellybutton? When do you show it, why, where, when and to whom? Is it an iny or an outy?
Do you find yourself revealing, concealing or comparing parts of yourself to others? How harshly do you judge yourself when comparing your iny or outness to others?
Declaration: No, this blog is not headed down some sewer of rude, crude stream of consciousness of tacky thoughts about nudity!
Disclaimer: This is a navel gazing exercise! 😉
Ask yourself, how you see yourself relative to others and does it matter to you? For example, whose aura is your bellybutton in or outness currently most aligned to? Does your sense of personal identity and life intersectionalities affect how you live, interact and engage with the world?
What about in your workplace? Do you have shared understanding, commitment and values alignment to help you and co-workers thrive while doing meaningful and intentionally good work? Are you more in the iny crowd at or perhaps a rebel with a cause, running with the outy pack!
According to social identity and social catergorisation theory (SIT) we tend to classify ourselves in organisations, relational to how and where we feel we fit, in or out, related to ourselves; eg our; faith-based affiliations, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, ability etc etc (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).
Lets' face it, as far as social structures go, workplaces are highly reliant, or perhaps should, have a keen interest in promoting and maximises social cohesion that collectively increases the quality of work, productivity and bottom line. There's nothing wrong with companies wanting that. They need to make money. We have a right to earn it.
How you see yourself, relative to others, can and does change, depending on how much or little you need, want or care to be an iny or outy, at any given moment.
For example, does revealing parts of your identity, like experiencing suicidality or living with a hidden disability come with greater risks of being labelled, benched, sidelined to the outy status? What if you decide to do a big reveal and declare that you are quietly or loudly a Swifty fanatic (it’s a thing, Google it) or a Friday night pub choir devotee (is that still in?) or perhaps you’re a Lycra wearing Saturday morning cycling enthusiast (always in, so they say, check out the coffee shops on the weekends).
Stigma and its co-conspirator, discrimination, have a lot to answer for! Here’s the rub. To reveal parts of yourself at work, particularly those you fear will be met and relegated to outy status (here comes stigma and old mate discrimination) is a high stakes gamble (Lynch & Rodell, 2018). Social catergorisation, social identity and belongingness are not easy to unpack. More navel gazing to come.
Go on, live a little, smile more, use sunscreen and flaunt that bellybutton…(when and if it’s
safe to do so)!
Iny or outy, we’re all the same on the inside.
References
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the Organization. The Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20-39.
Lynch, J. W., & Rodell, J. B. (2018). Blend in or stand out? Interpersonal outcomes of managing concealable stigmas at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(12), 1307-1323. https://doi.org/https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000342
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