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Meghan Markle spoke today about female sexuality being “so much more maligned” than men’s and even women in their 50s can be the target of gossip about how they were “a slut in college.”
While men are described as “players,” women are mocked for their sexual behavior, the Duchess of Sussex said in the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast on Spotify.
Meghan’s comments came during a conversation with trans actress and singer Michaela Jaé Rodriguez about her teenage experiences.
“As you get older, you explore and begin to understand your sensuality, your feminine divine,” says the Duchess.
“But your sexuality can be very much used against you… [a man] is a player or having fun or whatever he is doing, it is often celebrated, even announced.
“But for a woman, I don’t care if she’s perhaps the most successful woman in finance in her mid-50s. ‘.
‘It will stay with her. I don’t understand what it is about the stigma around women and their sexuality, the exploration of their sexuality that is so much more vilified than for a man and I wonder what that experience is.’
In the episode, titled ‘Beyond the Archetype: Human, Being’, Meghan also revealed that she owns a piece of art with the words ‘human kind – be both’, surprising students at her old high school.
In addition, the Duchess spoke to Sex and the City author Candace Bushell about how women were treated in the entertainment industry.
The latest installment of The Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes was released today. It is entitled ‘Beyond the Archetype: Human, Being’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge
Meghan began the episode by describing a piece of art in her £11 million mansion in Montecito, California.
‘There’s a work of art in my sitting room – it’s not luxurious. It’s kind of a rectangular shape, almost plaque-like. And it simply says ‘human kind’ – be both,” she says.
“My friend Jen gave it to me a few days ago and it always makes me laugh. Because I love her and our friendship – it reminds me of her, we’ve been super close since we were about 17 – but also because it’s true. Human species – be both.
“It got me thinking about other kinds of puns that resonate and I was thinking specifically about something I was told many years ago. You are not just a human being, you are an ordinary human being.
“The woman who told me this was trying to remind me to just be easier on myself, something along the lines of saying, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Well, this is just another version of that same kind of advice, you’re a human being, just a creature.’
Meghan visited her old school, the Immaculate Heart School in LA, and chatted with students about whether they were being “labelled” or “given space to be human.”
She asked if any of them had heard the word “bimbo” – to which one replied that they had only seen it once on TikTok.
“Talk about aging yourself,” says Meghan, before describing how her word was “something I grew up seeing all the time.”
The Duchess previously complained about being treated like a bimbo when she was a “briefcase girl” on Deal Or No Deal.
During the episode, Meghan described the characters in Sex And The City – Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte – as “iconic”.
She said Bushnell’s writing “still holds up today”, adding: “It still feels limitless today. And in her recent novel and one woman show Is There Still Sex In The City? she continues to peel back the layers of where women in all stages of life.”
Bushnell told Meghan she wasn’t making “a ton of money” off Sex And The City, and when the Duchess asked her how she felt about that, she replied, “Angry.”
Bushnell added, “That’s one of the realities. The fact is, you know, I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine, so I just keep working.”
After another conservation with poet Amanda Gorman, Meghan described how her guests had made her feel.
“I find it so inspiring to listen to women who clearly know who they are — steadfast, unquestioning, confident, despite all the barriers they’ve seen in the forefront,” she says.
And as I thought about closing this episode, how I could just bottle up that feeling, that inspiring sense of release, when you shake off all that fear of judgment [and] you are in your authenticity. If you allow yourself to be and be human.”
She ends the episode with a quote from a poem, adding, “And where there’s a woman, there’s a way forever.” Truer words have never been spoken.”
The Duchess of Sussex was joined by Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell and actor and trans actress Michaela Jaé Rodriquez for a conversation “about expressing one’s identity and embracing the nuances that make each of us simply human.”
The episode also features poet Amanda Gorman (pictured) and Dr. Shefali Tsabary, a self-help guru who has written a book called The Awakened Family
Meghan tells listeners she wants to revisit a big part of her “origin story,” the Immaculate Heart school in LA.
“I wanted to examine these labels, and boxes are part of the self-identification of the young women there,” she says. “Or if they’ve given themselves the space to be human.”
As the Duchess walks back into the school, she describes how the memories “came back.”
“It’s so great because you come back to this environment as an adult, it feels so small, but when you’re in high school, this campus was so big.
Middle school and high school is a really big time for everyone in their lives. You are so impressionable and you also think you know everything when you are a teenager.
‘But especially for young women, this is the period in which you start to look around a bit.
“About the culture and the society, the messages you receive, and you’re constantly wondering, How am I supposed to be?
“That was a lot anyway. My experience with puberty and maybe things have changed.’
Meghan is heard talking to three young women who have just graduated from college, Abigail, Diana and Grace.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the 2021 Salute To Freedom Gala at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on November 10 last year
When asked what labels they thought were put on them, one of them answered “the b-word,” while another said “bossy.”
Meghan then mentions the word “bimbo” and says, “So, when you guys hear the word bimbo, who do you think of or what do you think of?”
After one of them replies that they’ve only heard the word on TikTok, Meghan says, “I mean, talk about getting older myself, but this idea of the bimbo, the dumb blonde, this was something I grew up watching all the time . , and here we go, they didn’t have that.’
The royal family then tells the group how she was once given a religious studies assignment at school to plan her own wedding.
“That’s insane,” one of them replies.
Meghan then has a talk with Dr. Shefali Tsabary, an expert on family dynamics and personal development.
Yesterday it emerged that Archetypes seemed to have dropped in popularity with US listeners, with the latest episode sitting at just 77 on the US charts as of 1pm yesterday – trailing a collection of lullabies.
The ‘Episode’ ranking is ‘determined solely by the number of unique listeners on that day’