Princess Diana's niece Lady Kitty Spencer talks social media and feminism in Harper’s Bazaar

'Social media represents a grey area between fantasy and reality'
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Megan C. Hills19 March 2019

Princess Diana’s niece Lady Kitty Spencer has opened up in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar about feminism and the toxicity of social media.

The latter is something her cousins-in-law Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle know about only too well, as it was recently revealed Kensington Palace are taking special measures to deal with trolls and violent threats against the pair.

In the interview, the 28-year-old discussed the “grey area between fantasy and reality" which social media can represent.

Harper’s Bazaar UK/Guy Stephens

She explained, “Many professional influencers and people with large social media followings have plenty of ‘back up content’ that they will post on days when they are doing nothing...This means that they prioritise having fresh and constant glossy content and it looks as though every day is as glamorous as the next, which can be misleading and disheartening to women who believe it’s all happening in real time.”

She also talked about the amount of "crazy" technical advice she's been given to maintain her 455,000 followers on Instagram. “I often hear people saying, ‘You should post images in threes so that they make rows when people look at your overall account’ or, ‘For x amount of modelling pictures, there needs to be one of you exercising and one of you cooking and one image of nature’. It’s crazy.”

She continued, “I’m not living my life like that - never have, never will! I post what I want, when I want.”

The eldest daughter of Earl Spencer and Victoria Lockwood uses her platform to talk about everything from the gender wage gap to the struggles that homeless youth face.

As an ambassador for homeless charity Centrepoint, she drove home how something as simple as being financially self-sufficient was - calling it a symbol of her independence. She continued, ”[Earning my own money] means that I do not have to depend on or answer to anybody. I cannot be silenced or bargained with or threatened...It makes me feel as though I am in command of my own life - or as in command as any of us actually ever is.”

Harper’s Bazaar UK/Guy Stephens

Like her cousin-in-law Meghan Markle, she also has a strong opinion on feminism and spoke out fiercely about the gender wage gap saying that she “wholeheartedly” believes in the “advancement of women”. She said, “Women continue to earn less on average than men the number of women at CEO level is still small - in fact, that number is sadly falling. Of course, it’s great to see female CEOs and leaders of all kinds, however we cannot overlook the reality that women's presence and influence in the public arena is still too limited.”

She urged both men and women to join the feminist movement , saying, “It’s important that men and women engage with feminism and women’s rights because, after all, nothing changes if nothing changes.”

You can donate here to Give Us Time, a charity that supports military families dealing with trauma, or here to Centrepoint, an organisation that helps young homeless people.

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