bitchy | Duchess Meghan talks to Candace Bushnell & others about identity & being

The penultimate Archetypes episode of Season 1 is “Beyond the Archetype: Human, Being” with Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Candace Bushnell. The Duchess of Sussex speaks about existing, being as a human with Michaela, Candace, Amanda Gorman (the poet) and Dr. Shefali Tsabary, a clinical psychologist and author. The emphasis also seems to be a conversation on identity and how people – especially girls and women – understand their identity beyond the stereotypes and labels society places on them.

I love the part where Meghan talked to current teenage girls from her old high school about labels, stereotypes and archetypes. I love that the youths were like “what’s a bimbo, I’ve only heard that on TikTok.” Meghan felt so old!! It also strikes me that Meghan’s interest is wonderfully focused on the importance of adolescence and the teen years, that phase of life is where we define ourselves and try on different personalities and experiment. It’s like a subtweet of Kate’s Early Years bullsh-t, where she clearly doesn’t give a f–k about kids older than five.

Meghan’s conversation with Bushnell was fascinating, I had no idea about Candace’s family and how her father raised her as a feminist, basically. Candace is also from a much different generation than Meghan – Candace is 62 years old, so she was told no, you can’t do this, you can’t be a writer, you’re not allowed access to this and that. And this was in the 1980s and 1990s. I like Candace a lot – she’s not Carrie Bradshaw, you know? Candace has more depth and wisdom than most people give her credit for, and that’s what this is about too. Candace is feminine, sexual, empowered, so culturally she’s treated like she’s some niche artist.

Anyway, I didn’t finish listening to this, but I love what I’ve heard so far. This is a good episode!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, JPI Studios/Avalon.