Is yet another beauty site really what women need now, Meghan?
We have heard quite a bit from the Duchess of Sussex about her commitment to women’s causes. She calls herself a “proud feminist”. She called out a sexist washing-up soap advert when she was aged 11, and, in 2015, became a UN Women’s Advocate for Women’s Political Participation and Leadership.
All of us occasionally need a break from such worthiness. This must explain reports that she is planning on restarting her wellness and lifestyle blog, The Tig, which is essentially a cooler, younger version of Gwyneth Paltrow’s much-ridiculed but incredibly successful outfit, Goop.
Paltrow is a fabulous actress, but she never pretended to be a top-drawer advocate for women. In Meghan, the turn to espousing different face creams, mascaras and scented candles seems rather odd. Is what women really need just now another site pushing them to be still more obsessed with beauty and “wellness”, to be even more addicted to consumerism and to think yet more about personal relationships (reportedly a new terrain for the blog)? Is this how to show the patriarchy who’s boss? Apparently.
To me, restarting The Tig, her old “passion project”, smacks of a Duchess casting around for something to do in her California mansion – in breaks from working on her no doubt self-effacing autobiography – now that calling Britain a country of racists has run out of steam.
Ultimately, though, the buzz around The Tig, and the apparent primacy of its place in the heart of this “proud feminist” is not depressing for Meghan’s sake. It is depressing for the sake of women in general, who do still lag behind in business and leadership, and who do already spend too much time worrying about appearance. We don’t need another lifestyle blog: we need more hard, solid power.