Meghan Markle Picks Apart the "Angry Black Woman" Stereotype in Latest Podcast Episode
She speaks to Issa Rae and Ziwe.
It's Archetypes day once more, and Meghan Markle is back with another blockbusting Spotify podcast episode.
During her latest, the Duchess of Sussex invites TV presenter Ziwe and actress Issa Rae to help her dismantle the concept of the "angry Black woman," a stereotype that is so often leveled at Black women and ultimately invalidates the full breadth of their emotional experience.
Ziwe spoke to the duchess about how she uses stereotypes to her advantage in her work, creating a character for herself who is confident and fearless, and isn't who people expect a woman to be.
For her part, Rae explained how she utilized her hit HBO show Insecure to try to challenge stereotypical representations of Black women, and show them simply as people, without the need for a vaster message.
"One of the things that Prentice, who was our show runner, expressed, just like, I want to be able to have scenes where Black people are just washing their hands," Rae told Markle.
"It's like, white shows just get entire scenes dedicated to people just walking up stairs pensively, and then we don't really get that. There always has to be a message. And so, for us, it was just about, like, living day to day.
"And even if we did have, you know, these moments that were considered microaggressions or racist that we didn't dedicate time to like, 'oh this is a racist moment,' because in real life you don't get those opportunities.
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"It's more about, like, I experienced this microaggression at work.
"Now, how is that going to affect the way that I talk to my partner when I get home?
"How is that going to affect my mindset when I'm having this conversation with my friend?
"How does it dictate the way I move the next day? As opposed to, 'Racism, oh no!' You know, because that's just how we live."
The duchess commented, "Yeah, so that it doesn't feel like an after-school special."
Later on in the episode, the duchess asks Rae if she feels she's "allowed to be angry," to which her guest heartbreakingly responds, "absolutely not."
Anyway, it's another winner, and you can listen to the full episode over here.
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.