Meghan Markle has offered a defense of “woke” and “feminism” in the most recent installment of her “Archetypes” podcast.
In the episode, titled “The Audacity of the Activist,” the Duchess of Sussex delved into the topic of words that tend to carry undue baggage when associated with women. She highlighted “feminism” as an example, noting that it is frequently treated as a taboo, likening it to the “F-word.”
Markle, aged 41, expounded: “Or the word ‘woke.’ I know I’m saying ‘woke.’ I fully realize I am spoon-feeding the clickbait, but here’s why. Because ‘woke,’ by definition, means alert to injustice in society, especially racism.”
She continued: “Now, what’s loaded or wrong with that? And when you layer a woman into that seemingly anodyne definition, it becomes for many almost disgusting, ‘outrageous,’ they would say, but why?”
Meghan then posed the question: “What is so scary about a woman having an opinion as strongly as a man does? And why do we sometimes cower to that? Turtle, as I often say — go back into the safety of our own shell.”
Markle’s podcast guest, British actress Jameela Jamil, expressed her defense of the royal, asserting that she had “fought back on behalf” and countered the “demonization” directed at her.
Jamil, 36, conveyed to Meghan: “It’s just it’s an unfathomable amount of s*** that you take Meghan, I can’t believe it.
“And I fought back on your behalf years before I’d ever met you because I was so outraged with the twisting of this, very normal, very kind, very civilized woman.
“That demonization just shows how afraid they are of you.
“And I’m sure maybe you can’t keep this in or whatever, but the treatment of you and, I’m so sorry, you’ve had to withstand, it has re-highlighted for us there is intense unkindness and bigotry and misogyny of our media. I think and I hope and I feel faith that tides are changing, because so many of us are fighting back.”
To this, Meghan responded: “Thank you for fighting back.”
At the onset of the episode, Markle remarked on the tendency to view female activists with irritation.
Meghan stated: “I started to notice this almost default eye roll when someone would mention a woman fighting for a cause. ‘Why can’t she just sit down and’… you know the rest. The unspoken annoyance that seemed to swirl around women in activism was astounding to me.”