12. Marie Antoinette Insisted On Her Privacy
Marie Antoinette grew up in Austria, where the royal family was much more accustomed to privacy, a healthy domestic life, and what people today might call “family values” than was the French royal court at Versailles. Experience for the French royal family was more akin to celebrities facing an onslaught of paparazzi for a raving public that can’t wait for more gossip and rumors. They were on constant display. Add that to the stifling routine of outdated, antiquated rituals that consumed much of Marie Antoinette’s day and the elaborate forms of etiquette and elegance, and the result is a woman who just needed a break. She insisted on having privacy.
Unfortunately, any introvertedness or need for alone time tends to be seen by the public as a sign of weakness, emotional instability, or just plain rudeness. Marie Antoinette got the flak for her personal retreats at the hideaways that she and King Louis XVI fashioned for her. Some people felt that she was snubbing them, possibly sensing herself superior, especially when only her closest friends were allowed to retreat with her. They thought that she was exclusive and elitist. Others just saw this area as a ripe opportunity for gossip and slander. One result was slightly salacious libel that caricatured her in less-than-flattering, often wicked ways.
Fast forward to 2016, shortly after Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump. One photo that went viral was of her sitting at a table by herself, looking at her phone. People took this as fodder to publicly accuse her of being lonely, tired, depressed and altogether done with her political career. However, she is a female politician being scorned and shamed for perfectly normal, human characteristics.
