You may be well familiar with the classical, textbook definition of “gatekeeping”, which is to limit the public access to particular resources, information, etc. with the purpose of keeping them exclusive. GenZ had a new approach to this term, as it entered the daily vocabulary of many teenagers, still resembling its initial meaning.
Nowadays, gatekeeping may include your friends hesitating to introduce you to their favorite songs, or a content creator hiding their favorite skincare products from their followers in fear that they might sell out. However, this concept has been around for centuries, with the intention of keeping information secret, for the fear of too many people being knowledgeable.
So why do we gatekeep?
We might have all thought to ourselves, at least once “I knew that song way before it went viral” when seeing a less well-known song we love, a hidden gem, suddenly gain popularity, and the more we hear it all around us, the more it loses uniqueness in our eyes.
Truth be told, we all desire deep down to be original and special, and this might translate into keeping our tastes extremely private, as it gives us a sense of entitlement- it differentiates us from others, and laying our hands on an undiscovered piece of art, for example, gives us a sense of delight and superiority- acknowledging you are the only person you know that listens to a certain band or has read a specific series of books, or that uses an exclusive makeup brand.
However, despite the efforts, once these hidden gems get discovered, as it is inevitable, and grow immensely in popularity, the feeling of superiority and entitlement starts fading, and you feel just like the rest.
Gatekeeping is less about limiting access to music, books, culture, quality products on the market, etc., and more about the human desire to keep the things close to us safe and sacred, to preserve the perfect image of something dear to us before it gets altered by the views and impressions of others. As much as we’d like to think that the opinions of others do not affect our own, their views still somehow find their way to constantly run at the back of our minds every time we try to enjoy the things we used to and we find ourselves reevaluating them.
We, as humans, tend to connect immensely with art and almost depend on it to express our emotions. Whether that means listening obsessively to a song that describes exactly how you feel or associating memories with the smell of a certain perfume or with a book you read at a specific time of your life, we get easily attached to the things that made an emotional impact. Sharing them with the rest might feel like giving away a small portion of our soul, like a form of intimacy. In fear of this intimacy, or, perhaps judgment, some people may prefer to hide these sentimental tokens and leave them undiscovered.
Gatekeeping is impossible, as discovery is inevitable, yet it prevails, as an attempt to preserve our intact, and perfect perception of music and other pieces of art before it gets muddied by the impressions of others. It gives us a sense of belonging, entitlement, and control, which are all desires that are part of human nature. Just like Oscar Wilde wrote, in The Picture of Dorian Gray: “I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.”
Bibliography:
https://thefifthagency.com/trends/trendsetters-what-does-gatekeeping-mean/
https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/why-do-we-gatekeep/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gatekeeping/comments/6trv1b/what_is_the_psychology_behind_a_gate
keeper/
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gatekeep
https://litjoycrate.com/a/blog/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-quotes
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gatekeep
Photo: https://stockarch.com/images/abstract/concept/old-fashioned-key-and-lock-6828
Comments