Everything we learned from Meghan Markle's latest Archetypes podcast | indy100

Meghan Markle podcast guest implies Duchess didn't actually interview her

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On Meghan Markle's podcast, Archetypes, the Duchess of Sussex spoke about breaking the traditional archetypes of womanhood with young women from her old high school, Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell and actress Michaela Jaé Rodriguez.

Bushnell, 63, is somewhat of an expert on the archetypes of women as she wrote the popular newspaper column Sex and the City for the New York Observer from 1994 to 1996.

Famously, Bushnell's column was the basis for the hit TV show Sex and the City and the spinoff And Just Like That...

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Rodriguez is a transgender activist, model, and actress who starred in the TV show Pose which she won a Golden Globe award for.

Markle invited Bushnell and Rodriguez to speak about "living outside the box" of traditional womanhood.

Here are five things we learned from this week's Archetypes episode.

Markle says her high school helped define female stereotypes

At the beginning of the episode, Markle surprised young women from her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles.

Calling the high school part of her "origin story" Markle says many of the stereotypes of womanhood engrained in her began as a young girl.

"I wanted to revisit a large piece of my origin story, my old school, and explore if these labels and boxes are part of the self-identification for the young women there, or if they've given themselves the space to be a human being," Markle said.

Markle had to plan her own wedding for a school project

While speaking with the young women about how traditional gender roles have changed since Markle attended school, she revealed that one project for her religious studies class consisted of students planning their future weddings.

One of the young women called the project "insane."

Obviously, Markle had no idea her future wedding would be a royal one.

Sex and the City features four main women for a reason

After moving to New York, Bushnell "vowed" to create acting roles about "real women" after seeing men write poorly depict women.

In her book, Sex and the City, Bushnell said "there are lots and lots of different types of women".

However, the TV adaptation notoriously has four main characters with other types of women making appearances as side characters briefly. Apparently, there's a reason for this.

"We all know there are more than four types of women in the world, but on TV there's a feeling that the audience can't keep track of all the types of women so lots and lots of women turn into four types of women," Bushnell told Markle.

Bushnell's life did not change after Sex and the City

According to Bushnell, a common misconception is that her life "changed" after Sex and the City as people believe she made a lot of money.

But the writer and TV producer revealed that it didn't.

"I did not make a ton of money from Sex and the City," she told Markle.

When Markle asked how that makes her feel, Bushnell said "angry".

Markle says female sexuality is "vilified"

Rodriguez and Markle spoke about growing up as women and understanding their feminity and sexuality.

Markle compared women coming into their sexuality versus men, pointing to the double standard in society.

"A man, if he is a player or out having fun or whatever he's doing, it is often celebrated, even herald," Markle said. "But for a woman, I don't care if she is perhaps the most successful woman in finance in her mid-50s, I promise you someone will still go 'yeah but she was such a sl*t in college'."

Rodriguez said she felt this stigma after posting a photo of herself in a mesh shirt which led to comments about her body and her relationship status.

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