Meghan Markle Said Women Are “Vilified” For Their Sexuality

Meghan Markle is talking sexism in her Archetypes podcast. During the Nov. 22 episode, featuring Candace Bushnell and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Markle said women are “vilified” for their sexuality, whereas men are “celebrated.” In the podcast, she dove into the double standard.

“I don’t understand what it is about the stigma surrounding women and their sexuality and the exploration of their sexuality that is so much more vilified than for a man,” Markle said, per Page Six. “As you’re getting older, you’re exploring and starting to understand your sensuality, your feminine divine. Your sexuality, oftentimes, it can be very much used against you.”

Markle then analyzed how the rules are different for men: “A man, if he is a player, out having fun or whatever he’s doing, it’s often celebrated — even heralded. But for a woman, I don’t care if she’s perhaps the most successful woman in finance in her mid-50s, I promise you, someone will still go, ‘But she was such a slut in college.'”

Markle has analyzed double standards on her podcast before. Back in August, she spoke with Serena Williams about how the term “ambitious” was considered an insult — but only for women. “I don’t remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ‘ambitious’ until I started dating my now-husband,” Markle explained at the time, per Page Six.

“Apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing, for a woman. That is, according to some. Since I’ve felt the negativity behind it, it’s [been] really hard to un-feel it,” she said, before adding that she “can’t unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller — so much smaller — on a regular basis.”

She shared a similar sentiment during an Oct. 18 episode of her podcast, featuring Paris Hilton. Reflecting on her past work experience, specifically as a briefcase model for Deal or No Deal, Markle recalled how much emphasis was placed on looks. “It was solely about beauty — and not necessarily about brains,” she said at the time. “There was a woman who ran the show and she'd be there backstage, and I can still hear her. She couldn’t properly pronounce my last name at the time and I knew who she was talking to because she’d go, ‘Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!’”

Clearly, Markle has learned a lot through the years — lessons she’s eager to share. Listen to her episode with Bushnell and Rodriguez below.