Meghan Markle takes on Google in new podcast as she slams ‘angry Black woman’ stereotypeMeghan Markle said she was left “with my jaw on the floor” after learning about the most common terms associated with Black women in Google’s autofill system.Meghan Markle said she had come about details of the algorithm behind Google search after being handed a book by a friend.
The Duchess of Sussex said she was surprised to learn of findings by Gender Studies professor Dr Safiya U. Noble suggesting the search engine was contributing to spreading stereotypes about black women. Speaking in the latest episode of her podcast Archetype, Meghan said: “Her findings in this book had my jaw on the floor.”She established that when you type in a question on the Google search engine, it would try to guess what your question would be.
“Sort of like the modern-day, technological Madlib, so to fill in the blank, to be intuitive for you, she typed in, ‘why are black women so…'”The autofill from the computer, the machine trying to guess your thoughts, maybe shape your thoughts, completed her search with these options: why are black women so loud? Why are black women so mean? Why are black women so angry?”Those were the seeds being planted, this idea that a black woman must be angry.
“Continuing to discuss the findings of Dr Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression, the Duchess of Sussex added: “An angry black woman when we all know that sometimes things make you feel angry or sad or hurt or upset.”And that’s not a gendered or racially-specific feeling. Yet this trope of the angry black woman persists and, as we saw in this book, it was being reinforced constantly in ways we hadn’t even realised.”And from that, I started to dig deeper – where does this idea even come from? Why has it been attributed to black women?”And why do some black women cower into it, lean into it or sometimes even play into it?”Meghan Markle discussed the topic with actress Issa Rae and comedian Ziwe Fumudoh, with whom she shared anecdotes about her acting career and the description she usually saw associated with black characters during auditions.
She said: “I remember when I was auditioning, the idea of even black roles, and I remember those casting sheets, where the description of the character she always had to have an edge or an attitude.”The Duchess of Sussex noted Issa Rae, who also works as a producer, is working to play “against those labels” and helping to dispel the typecast of the “angry black woman”.Meghan Markle’s podcast has been focussing on dissecting and subverting the “labels that try to hold women back.”Each week, the Duchess hosts a number of guests to discuss the stereotypes associated with negative labels routinely associated with women.In earlier episodes, Meghan tackled the toxic characterisation of Asian women as “Dragon Ladies” with American comedian Margaret Cho and the figure of the “bimbo” with socialite Paris Hilton.
The podcast, which was temporarily paused following the death of the Queen last month, is released every Tuesday exclusively on Spotify,The Duchess of Sussex struck an agreement with the platform alongside her husband Prince Harry following their departure from the Royal Family in 2020.
