Looking for a new podcast? Well, Meghan Markle has just launched her very own on Spotify, and while it’s only had two episodes so far, it’s one of the hottest new shows to listen to at the moment, rocketing up the listener charts.

It was started by Meghan to analyse and talk about the perceptions and labels of women in society- and how the negative ones can be subverted.

The Duchess launched the Archetypes podcast on the 23rd August, and as you can imagine, it’s generated a lot of publicity. Meghan’s first guest was tennis player Serena Williams, about to embark on her final grand slam tournament at the US Open. The pair discussed their lives and specifically the topic of ambition, and the stereotypes surrounding ambitious women. They have been friends for years, so it’s certainly a fitting first guest for the new show. Meghan and Serena both chat about how men are often seem to be labelled as “driven” and ambition is viewed positively, whereas women can often be called “selfish”, and ambitious to the detriment of others.

The tennis champ is not the only person who appears on the first episode, Meghan is also joined by Laura Kray, professor at University of California and expert on gender in the work place. She discusses that in her view, there’s a prevailing stereotype that women with ambition will manipulate and backstab to get to the top, and men will do it more genuinely as a good role model and something for others to aspire to. This, she believes, is rooted in misogyny. In particular, the stereotype is aimed at mothers, who instead of just “staying at home and looking aftet the kids”, go back to work to fulfil their career aims- again seen as a negative thing.

The second episode also has a mega famous guest in Mariah Carey, who chats about being “a diva”. Both women agree that the word diva can be used negatively and as an insult toward women who aren’t pushovers, but Mariah talks about she’s keen to embrace the diva label and turn it around to connote power and elegance and fun, rather than being a bad thing. Though Meghan is more unsure of the word at first, she lets out her inner Mariah Carey geek and happily gushes over the pop songstress’ career. “Honestly, half of the diva persona is just for laughs” Mariah concludes. Meghan’s also joined in the episode by Dr. Mashinka Firunts, a scholar in feminist and media studies, who explores the history and origin of the word.

Further guests are yet to be announced, though you can expect some big names if the first episodes are anything to go by. Prince Harry also makes a cameo in the Serena Willaims episode, so expect him to pop up more (and likely have a guest episode of his own). The show will also continue in exploring attitudes toward and the role of women in the world and society, as podcast where “we investigate, dissect, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.”

 

For more intriguing listens that discuss the human mind, check out our list of best wellbeing podcasts

YOU CAN LISTEN TO ARCHETYPES ON SPOTIFY

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