Favourite Reads

May Pick | Selected by Dr Rossella De Bernardi

Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill | Confidence Culture

Who wouldn’t want to be, or at least look, more confident? Most will easily concede the undisputable value of confidence. In fact, to anyone raised as a woman, the question will easily sound quintessentially rhetorical. For within Western cultures – still a far cry from fulfilling their post-patriarchal aspirations – women’s grasp of self-confidence is as easily hard-won as it is short-lived, more a constant struggle than a peaceful, stable relationship. Luckily, from TikTok influencers to bestselling authors, resources abound to help us slay the beast of lack of confidence and finally be our best, most successful selves. We’ve just got to try harder!

In Confidence Culture, Professor of Media and Communications Shani Orgad and Professor of Cultural and Social Analysis Rosalind Gill put into words an ambivalence that I’ve long felt towards what they call the “confidence imperative.”

As they investigate the mixed messages of “body positivity” or confidence ideals in the workplace, Orgad and Gill's ultimate concern lies with unmasking how the cultural obsession with confidence works as a powerful depoliticising phenomenon; one that mistakes enduring structural obstacles to gender equality for psychological skill deficiencies and hinders our ability to question whether confidence truly deserves the prominence that is so often given. A highly recommended read!

May 2026

Past Favourite Reads