Good morning everyone!

In case I’ve not been banging on about it enough, I have a new job! Which is great, and which is causing me to remember that imposter syndrome is something that occasionally women get. In case you ever feel imposter syndrome, here are some links that you will enjoy, illustrating that some women imposters in history have done absolutely fine and maybe there are worse things to be.

Firstly, though, if you’re going to get up to some sort of scam, think it through first - make sure it’s not something revolting and easily disproved like “I give birth to rabbits”:

Both the mother- and sister-in-law were in on the hoax, and, conveniently, Ann, the mother-in-law, was a midwife. Simply, the family wanted money. As Mary later put it, “to get so good a living that I should never want as long as I lived.” (This is one of the few places in her history that her voice comes ringing out.) Exhibitions of “sights and monsters” were hugely popular in England at the time and took in pennies and half crowns at a good clip.

https://www.theawl.com/2013/02/how-to-give-birth-to-a-rabbit/

Here’s the real deal - Anna Anderson, who claimed to be Anastasia Romanov for a very long time, and who did fine out of it! Lots of interesting stuff that I didn’t know in here, including that she was not the first to claim herself as one of the Romanovs, and that she was pretty rude to people who supported her claim most of the time:

For nearly a decade, Anderson bounced between castles and homes, dependent on the kindness of royal or wealthy strangers. The stream of visitors continued, and she soon had as many detractors as supporters. Anastasia's old nursemaid, her former tutor, and other royal employees flatly denied she was genuine, yet others still believed.

http://www.refinery29.uk/2016/05/111222/anna-anderson-anastasia-romanov-impostor

Finally, I believe this has long been considered the definitive work on imposter syndrome, presented here for the sake of completeness:

Social scientists working on a decades-long population study have recently concluded that every single living resident of the United States suffers from a condition known as imposter syndrome, a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments, except for you, an actual fraud who is almost certainly on the verge of being found out by the people who only think they love and respect you any day now.

http://the-toast.net/2014/01/28/everyone-imposter-syndrome-except/

Have a great day,

Alex xx.