At first glance this appears to be about a prince, but the real story of #HarryandMeghan is about our own reactions. Rarcism, sexism, modernity, equality...
We could have told this story a different way, and the outcomes would have been transformative. So why didn't we?
THREAD
We could have told this story a different way, and the outcomes would have been transformative. So why didn't we?
THREAD
If someone wrote Cinderella’s tale today, her character might not wait around for a prince to come and save her. She would, instead, be given a career and aspire to financial independence.
In the #MeToo era if Sleeping Beauty woke up with a kiss that she did not consent to, we'd call it assault, not a fairytale. We've yet to reframe these stories for a modern era, because it's hard to escape the trap of outdated values if we keep telling ourselves obsolete stories.
Which brings us to the modern day fairytale of #PrinceHarry and #MeghanMarkle and their step back from royal duties. Although at first glance this appears to be about a prince, the real story is our reactions, attitudes and the way we have perceived and framed this narrative
Racism has been at the heart of the couple’s story. That much is evident in the headlines and discussions around their recent announcement to step back and how that news has been framed.
The most notable thing about racism is the denial of it, couching it in different ways – for example, blaming Meghan Markle, calling her ungrateful and accusing her of not understanding the ways of her new family or the expectations of society. These are commonplace racist tropes
The truth is this narrative could have been framed differently. It could have been written in terms of positive modernity, a need for change, touching on the bravery and courage of breaking from tradition, overcoming racial bias, judging a person for themselves not their colour
The sexism has been brutal. Markle was denigrated for being divorced, successful, having a career, age-old misogynistic stereotypes. She was pitted against her sister-in-law. She was blamed, as wives often are, for allegedly taking her husband away from his family and heritage.
Instead, we could have said: "Wife gives husband the courage of his convictions to take the brave step away from the royal family" – something he had wanted to do since his mother’s death.
Instead of the misogynistic coverage of her desire to bow out of royal duties, we could have been celebrating multi-faceted women and their opinions, interests and talents.
This also did a disservice to Prince Harry. It cast him as weak and under his wife’s spell when he deserved better. Imagine if the story told was of a devoted husband, respectful of his marriage, of a man who treats his wife as an equal and prioritises his family.
The whole #HarryandMeghan incident is a lesson in framing stories, how we perceive them and how that shapes who we are and the societies we live in.
Given the coverage in this case, we should be watchful of similar framing of other cases. Every time reports of this kind trickle into public consciousness, we move closer to buying into noxious ideas that really serve no purpose other than to reinforce toxic perspectives.
We say we want to empower women and see more marriages where partners play an equal role but we act in contrary ways, heaping abuse on the men and women who do in fact treat each other as equal.
We want to draw the line between our own personal and public lives, and yet we deny it to others. In the UK we talk of a more streamlined monarchy with a smaller budget to support it but we are outraged at this proactive withdrawal from the monarchy and financial independence.
Are we not brave enough to break with the ideas holding us back? Do we just need to be angry at someone? Are we prey to hysteria? What we learn from the sorry saga of #HarryandMeghan is that to do things differently first we need to tell different stories thenational.ae/opinion/commen…
