Writing and Shame
One of the interesting points explored in Elspeth Probyn’s exploration of shame, Blush, is the connection between shame, interest, and exposure. Building upon the work of psychologist Sylvan Tomkins, Probyn looks at shame as an emotion that only arrives after an interest or joy has been activated: When we feel shame it is because our interest has been interfered with but not cancelled out. The body wants to continue being interested, but something happens to “incompletely reduce” that interest Blush, 14 While it can be felt in private, it is often an inherently social phenomena as the reduction of interest is predicated on external influences demanding said interest be reduced. Probyn looks at shame as an eruption: the secret made physical through our skin and the sensations that accompany it. The body warning it cannot fit in, even though it wants too (72). When we attempt to shame another, it is a demand they rise up and meet with the interests, ideals,
