Meghan Markle Was Surprised Recent High School Graduates Weren’t That Familiar With the Term ‘Bimbo’
On an episode of her Archetypes podcast on Spotify, Meghan Markle discussed how she felt “objectified” and reduced to playing a “bimbo” for a former modeling job. Then, she was surprised that three recent high school graduates had only heard the word on TikTok. And it’s being used by people who are reclaiming it.
Meghan Markle said ‘Deal or No Deal’ experience made her feel ’reduced to a bimbo’
An episode of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast called ”Breaking Down the Bimbo” explored negative connotations behind the label. And the Duchess of Sussex talked about her experience as a suitcase model on the television game show Deal or No Deal (Vanity Fair).
She shared, “I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach, knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage.”
“I didn’t like being forced to be all looks and little substance,” she added, “and that’s how it felt for me at the time — being reduced to this specific archetype: the word ‘bimbo.’”
In that episode, Meghan invited Paris Hilton for a chat. And she confessed to having difficulty knowing what to talk about because she perceived Hilton as a bimbo, while she looked at herself as more of a “nerd.”
“I was this nerd, so it was so hard for me to think about what you and I would talk about when so much of the identity — whether it was placed upon you, or you adopted, or embraced, or used to build a career — was about not leaning into being smart,” Meghan told her.
Recent high school graduates surprised Meghan Markle when they told her they don’t often hear the term ‘bimbo’
For another episode of Archetypes, Meghan visited her old high school, where she chatted with three recent graduates. They talked about labels for women with assertive personalities, like b***h and bossy. And the former model seemed surprised to learn that “bimbo” was a word the teens hadn’t heard that much.
“When you guys hear the word ‘bimbo,’ who do you think of or what do you think of?” Meghan asked. One of her guests replied, “I think the only time … I’ve heard that in recent years is on TikTok from self-proclaimed ‘bimbos.'”
“She’s only ever heard the word on TikTok,” Meghan said to her podcast listeners (People). “I mean, talk about aging myself. But this idea of the ‘bimbo,’ [or] the dumb blonde, this was something I grew up seeing all the time. And here you go — they hadn’t.”
BimboTok is helping ‘bimbos’ reclaim the label
Some commentators think Meghan’s comments on what it is to be a “bimbo” are a bad look for her. Not everyone thinks of being a “bimbo” as a negative thing, and TikTok has helped to reclaim the term.
“TikTok’s revolutionary bimbos hold firm that women can wear whatever they want, however revealing it is,” Jessica Fostekew wrote for The Guardian. “Yes please.”
“They are fiercely inclusive, carefully inviting all genders to revel in their glorious bimbodom. Lovely. And they are furious at the term bimbo being used by misogynists to claim that women can’t be beautiful and brainy,” Fostekew noted.
Other observers were surprised to hear Markle had seemingly lost the message. “Now, however, bimbo has taken on a new meaning – one that is inclusive, hyperfeminine, anti-capitalist, and an act of resistance. How did we get here, and did we lose Meghan Markle along the way?” Meredith Clark asked for The Independent.
