“I Felt so Terrible”
Authenticity, Norms, Authorization and Credibility in Contemporary Confessions
Daily we meet different kinds of self-exposed and emotionally loaded confessions in media. Often this is considered to illustrate a contemporary self-obsession with the inner self and a moral fall out. In this article another interpretation is offered where identity claims and historical determined conditions are emphasized.
The dramaturgy of confessions shows similarities to life histories in general. In both the appearance of the authentic self is a central theme. The claim of authenticity is also a central theme in contemporary identity politics. In the article the emotional aspect of confession is also seen as significant for contemporary identity politics. This is possible if emotions and being emotional is interpreted as ways of making claims of whom you are and how you want to be treated.
Narratives of the self, the questions these narratives explore as well as what we call understanding of the self itself are in the article discussed as historically determined. Even though confessions seem deeply private and intimate they cannot be separated from existing notions, norms and dominating interpretations. In this perspective the confession offers a possibility to scrutinize the conditions of how we can understand ourselves.
Conditions of sex, class, sexuality and ethnicity are not only viewed as frames for what we can and not can. Conditions of sex, class, sexuality and ethnicity also affect how we understand and interpret our experiences. Furthermore, speeches about our self and other do something with norms associated with different phenomena. Confessions can therefore be seen as speech acts that do things with our understanding of different phenomena.
Finally the idea of moral fall out is questioned. The lack of obedience in contemporary confessions is not the same as an absence of shame and guilt. Shame and guilt is instead dealt with in a historical specific way through struggles and negotiations were norms associated with different phenomena often being criticized. These negotiations are on the other hand never without terms. The interrelations between authenticity, norms, authorization and credibility are dependent of the conditions sex, class, sexuality and ethnicity form. Conclusively, an interpretation of contemporary confessions as individualistic statements independent of culture and society denies normative notions and expectations. We never speak unconditional, or share same conditions.
