THE LUXURY OF BEING DIFFICULT TO SUMMARIZE: the art of being a woman with range

A well-developed self is not necessarily easy to explain. It is simply rich enough to contain more than one explanation.

We are repeatedly advised to find our niche. Become the woman who knows everything about one subject, the professional with a recognizable specialty, the creator whose audience knows precisely what to expect. There is practical wisdom in developing expertise. The problem begins when specialization stops being a tool and becomes a theory of personhood.

A niche can describe what you do. It should not dictate the full dimensions of who you are.

You can study law and love couture. You can care about football tactics, French literature, political theory, cinema, architecture, and the social life of language. You can spend an afternoon thinking about Bourdieu's account of cultural capital and the evening singing Britney Spears at an entirely unreasonable volume.

None of these interests needs to apologize for the others.

THE POLYMATHIC MIND DOES NOT MERELY COLLECT SUBJECTS; IT LOOKS FOR RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THEM. IT NOTICES THAT A FOOTBALL STADIUM, A COURTROOM, AND A FASHION SHOW ARE ALL SPACES IN WHICH RULES, PERFORMANCES, HIERARCHIES, AND BELONGING BECOME VISIBLE. IT WONDERS WHY CERTAIN ACCENTS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH AUTHORITY, WHY PARTICULAR CLOTHES COMMUNICATE SERIOUSNESS, AND WHY SOME FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE TREATED AS PRESTIGIOUS WHILE OTHERS ARE DISMISSED AS FRIVOLOUS.

THE POINT IS NOT TO KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT EVERYTHING AND CALL IT SOPHISTICATION. INTELLECTUAL RANGE REQUIRES DEPTH, PATIENCE, AND THE HUMILITY TO RECOGNIZE HOW MUCH REMAINS TO BE LEARNED. IT MEANS ALLOWING ONE DISCIPLINE TO ILLUMINATE ANOTHER WITHOUT PRETENDING THEY ARE INTERCHANGEABLE.

SOCIOLOGIST PIERRE BOURDIEU HELPS US UNDERSTAND WHY THIS MATTERS. OUR PREFERENCES AND CULTURAL HABITS ARE SHAPED, IN PART, BY THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH WE LEARN WHAT COUNTS AS LEGITIMATE KNOWLEDGE AND GOOD TASTE. WHAT APPEARS TO BE A NATURAL HIERARCHY OF INTERESTS MAY ALSO REFLECT A HIERARCHY OF SOCIAL VALUE.

A woman can be interested in fashion and political theory. She can understand the language of football and the language of philosophy. She can love a beautifully cut jacket, read about constitutional law, spend an afternoon studying Renaissance painting, and become disproportionately invested in a tennis match.

None of these interests requires the others to justify their existence.

Yet women are frequently encouraged to become legible through a recognisable set of characteristics. We are rewarded for consistency when consistency makes us easier to understand, admire, categorise, or sell to. Our interests become part of a personal brand; our personalities become carefully arranged collections of signals.

We are encouraged to be a type. The intellectual woman. The fashionable woman. The ambitious woman. The artistic woman. The sporty woman. The serious woman. The beautiful woman who, against all expectations, also happens to be intelligent.

The problem is not that these categories are always meaningless. The problem is that they become restrictive when they are treated as mutually exclusive identities rather than partial descriptions of a much larger person.

THE DANGER BEGINS WHEN WE START EDITING OURSELVES BEFORE ANYONE HAS EVEN ASKED US TO.

WE STOP MENTIONING CERTAIN INTERESTS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT MATCH THE IMAGE WE HAVE CULTIVATED. WE CONCEAL OUR ENTHUSIASM BECAUSE IT SEEMS TOO EARNEST. WE ABANDON A CURIOSITY BECAUSE IT DOES NOT FIT THE NARRATIVE. WE BECOME SO COMMITTED TO APPEARING CONSISTENT THAT WE FORGET TO REMAIN CURIOUS.

A WOMAN WITH RANGE DOES NOT NEED TO MAKE EVERY ASPECT OF HER PERSONALITY SUPPORT A SINGLE, MARKETABLE IDENTITY. SHE CAN ALLOW HER INTERESTS TO COEXIST WITHOUT FORCING THEM INTO A PERFECTLY COORDINATED MOOD BOARD.

THERE IS AN IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COHERENCE AND REDUCTION. COHERENCE MEANS THAT YOUR VALUES, CHOICES, AND CONDUCT POSSESS SOME UNDERLYING INTEGRITY. REDUCTION MEANS THAT OTHER PEOPLE CAN EXPLAIN YOU USING ONLY A FEW CONVENIENT DETAILS.

YOU CAN BE COHERENT WITHOUT BEING PREDICTABLE.

In fact, perhaps the most compelling women are those who cannot be entirely anticipated. Not because they are deliberately mysterious, but because they have refused to stop at the edges of what others already understand about them.