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No credit, all blame: Meghan Markle on how women activists become victims of sexism

Former actor's latest podcast featured powerful conversations with activists Jameela Jamil and Shohreh Aghdashloo

Entertainment Desk November 17, 2022

The latest episode of Megan Markle's podcast Archetypes has been making rounds on the internet. In the recent installment she invited actors and activists Jameela Jamil and Shohreh Aghdashloo to speak their heart out.

In the episode titled, The audacity of the activist Markle explored the bias and sexism that women activists endure during their life. She went deep into why women's activism is frequently regarded as an "annoyance" in the public eye.

"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything," she opened the conversation with an old quotation.

"I remember a year ago, just nodding along and saying that makes sense to me. Just stand for something, stand for something good, but not everyone sees it that way, especially when it comes to women," she added.

Markle felt there is a "default eye role" when someone mentions women fighting for a cause. She also shared how female activists constantly face abuse and their presence is dubbed an "unspoken annoyance" in society.

She continued to ask her listeners, "Why is female activism perceived as audacious for some, and why do people look at them and think 'How dare she?'"

After setting a strong warm-up, the actor moved on to presenting Jamil as her first guest.

Jamil pointed out the media's obsession with a woman's appearance, despite her tremendous achievements in life. She presented her idea by recalling the time she joined social media platforms for The Good Place's promotions.

She said, "I joined Instagram in 2016 to promote my show and kept on seeing these posts on the explore page, clearly directed to me as I'm a woman of a certain age. They were pictures of women with numbers on their bodies, but the numbers weren't how many awards they have won or their network like we see with a lot of men, it was just how much they weigh."

Jamil elaborated that these "powerful" women have "broken records," yet the entire focus is still on their "bodies." "These were powerful women who have broken records, women who have started empires, with just their weight written across their bodies. No one would do that with men," she noted.

The She-Hulk actor also lamented about the opressive nature of "diet culture" and how she was a victim of it too. Being a survivor of anorexia, Jamil had lots to say. She said, "While growing up I was a victim of misogyny, and diet culture and the 12-year-old me would have wanted the 30-year-old me to do something for the next generations of 12-year-olds."

Jamil further expressed how women are raised to be "likeable" for others, but men don't. "The only thing we are taught is that we are liked and we are likeable for others and men just don't have to be content with this. They are given redemption. Women are not given the benefit of doubt as we have spent it on men," she added.

Taking Mother Earth as an example, Jamil also pointed out that people treat the planet as a disposable object due to its association with a female. She stated, "There's a theory that the reason we treat the earth as so Sh** is because we consider it Mother Earth, Mother Nature."

She then questioned to the podcast's audience about how people just keep "drilling into the earth" and expecting it to keep giving more resources. "Like if we considered it the authoritative patriarch figure, would we be drilling it? There's is something so poetic about how we just drill into the earth, take its resources and just expect her to never fight back and continue to take and tolerate endless abuse, and endless withdraws with not enough deposits," she asked.

The Good Place star also lauded Markel for putting up with haters amid her marriage to Prince Harry and struggle to settle in with the British royal family.

She said, "It's just it's an unfathomable amount of sh** that you take, Markle. I can't believe it. And I fought back on your behalf for years before I'd ever met you because I was so outraged by the twisting of this, very normal, very kind, very civilised woman. That demonisation just shows how afraid they are of you."

Jamil then apologized to Markle for bearing the hateful comments and fighting back the "intense unkindness." "I'm so sorry you've had to withstand it. It has highlighted for us the intense unkindness, bigotry and misogyny of our media. And I think and I hope and I feel faith that the tides are changing because so many of us are fighting back," she continued.

The podcast also later featured Shohreh Aghdashloo, an Iranian and American actor who has long protested the violence against women.

Taking to Instagram, Jamil also revealed that she will continue her protest against the misogyny within social media and society and will never be silenced.

She said, "I did not hold back about the misogyny that seeps through our media into our society and is weaponised to silence, distract and destroy rebellious and powerful women."

She also penned down her experience with bullying and how she became a target of the media after she stood in solidarity with Markle. She said, "From the moment I first called the British media out for racism and misogyny regarding their treatment of Markle, I had a target on my back."

Jamil further added how she was huddled with "smear campaigns" and her family was "stalked" by tabloid journalists after she voiced her opinion. She then revealed how she has overcome this experience but will continue to fight for who she is, whether she is liked or not.

While finishing her statement, she highlighted Markle's resilience and how she never "backed down." "I love that Meghan hasn't backed down and is leaning in and raising awareness of tropes used about women in her podcast," she concluded.