Self Silencing in Young Women

Abstract

The concept of self silencing which has been taken attention mainly in the cross cultural contexts has been investigated for a while. Self silencing mainly experienced by women refers to the fact that women care more about the wishes, expectations and needs of others in their close relationships. Avoiding conflict, maintaining the relationship and obtaining a sense of trust seem to be the underlying factors. Additionally it is also proposed that women who suppress their own voices and put the voices of others to the fore, view themselves as sacrifices in relationships and have an externalized and divided self perception. In this study, the characteristics of self-silencing, the two-dimensional autobiographical model which is frequently mentioned in recent years, and self-silencing in the cultural and feminist context are reviewed. Relationship between self silencing and identity development, and gender roles in women are reviewed in this paper.

Keywords

• self silencing
• identity development
• gender roles