53

That's the number of narcissistic women I counted today I have known in my life.  There are probably many more, but in chatting with a friend, that's the number we came up with.  "What about....?" she said.  "Definitely," I affirmed.  "And......?"  "No, not her."  But there were more yes's than no's as we ran through the candidates.  Narcissism is defined on the web as:

 "A long-term pattern of behaviour characterized by feelings of exaggerated self-importance, an excessive need for admiration and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.  People affected by it often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power or success, or about their appearance.  They often take advantage of people around them.  The behaviour typically begins in early adulthood."

Well, ahem to that.  To me, a narcissist is someone who can't relate to others and sees the world exclusively from their point of view.  In other words, people who can't get out of their chairs.  Know anyone like that?  Of course you do.  Funnily and sadly enough, the women on my list are also bitches.  In fact, in reviewing my list, I removed a couple because they weren't.  I am thinking here of Jackie from the cottage and a woman from the tennis club because, although aggressively self-centred, they were actually "nice", in a way.  One thing of particular note is that every woman on the list dislikes me.  Funny that.  Should I name them?  Why not:

Diana, S, Genevieve, Julia, Margaret, Bonnie, Shelia, Anita, Flo, Florence, Cheryl, EJ, Audrey, Jane, Cynthia, Monica, Fay, Barbara, Peggy, Mary, Helene, Marj, A, Jennifer, Janet, Janice, Robin, Robyn, Nancy, Connie, Jennifer, Judy, Sue, Erica, Theresa, Louise, Libby, Sandy, Claudia, Christine, Val, Darlene, Sue-Anne, Lisa, Lorraine, Holly, Pat, Jean, D, M, P and Jean.

Narcissism was on my mind because I was reading yet another story about our hapless PM and his endless selfies.  (By the way, his mother is high on my list.)  For this exercise, I decided to focus on just women -- from my days at RevCan, to my working life, to the cottage days, to tennis clubs and even relatives.  It's astounding that I identified 54 whose narcissism is breathtaking. 

They are such bores.  Anyone with me here?  I bet.