Many things make me wonder whether Meghan Markle is bad for my mental health. One of them is the fact that has set herself up as a leader of women, an oracle of feminine power and a guide through the maze of prejudice that we – and, of course, she, too – find corralled against us, she then so staggeringly misses the point.
Her misreading of the world is so delusionary that it makes one gaslight oneself.
In her latest Archetype podcast, she addresses the issue of whether women can be allowed to be ‘clear’ and ‘direct’ and ‘set boundaries’ without being called difficult.
As a woman who was a boss (although I hate that word) for several decades, if there was one description of my time as Head Girl at Vogue that I heard repeatedly, it was that I was direct and decisive.
I don’t think anyone has ever thought me a bully, as Harry and Meghan were claimed to be by some Royal staff they previously worked with. Claims they deny
People occasionally left my office in tears if I had to fire them or make them redundant – and, incidentally, I’d invariably had a sleepless night beforehand. Or, if I didn’t like something my staff had produced, they would always be allowed to defend it, even if in the end they would rant afterward at my bad judgment.
And there are others, even now that I have no office to lead, who find my inability to sugar-coat and people-please rather tiresome, or at times, abrasive. But I don’t think anyone has ever thought me a bully, as Harry and Meghan were claimed to be by some Royal staff they previously worked with. Claims they deny.
Yes, sometimes people are thrown by a straight-talking woman in a way they aren’t with men. But Meghan naturally fails to address the far more relevant issue of how you behave regardless of your gender. Of course, it’s important to be clear with work colleagues so as to get your message across.
Yet that doesn’t mean undermining and intimidating. It doesn’t mean making others feel weakened as you demonstrate your strength. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t treat others exactly how you’d want to be treated yourself.
Meghan seems obsessed with what she sees as the twin disadvantages of being a woman and being mixed-race.
