After arriving at the absurdly plush White Lotus hotel in Thailand, Laurie, played by Carrie Coon, begins justifying that she’s “fine” with her room, which is slightly more tucked away than the rooms belonging to her two “long-time, not old” friends, Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan).
“Jac, you look amazing,” gushes Kate, prompting the two women to repeatedly tell one another how “amazing” and “incredible” they both look while Laurie opens a bottle of wine.
That’s where internalised misogyny comes in – and it’s the very thing at play between these three women in The White Lotus, who, despite their decade-long bond, can’t help but succumb to social conditioning that forces them to compete against one another.
It’s just a tiny glimmer in the first episode of the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus – but one that’s enough to lay out the hierarchy that’s at play between these women.
It’s a centuries-old tactic designed to keep the patriarchy in order: in the 1500s, women in London were forbidden to gather with one another in fear of what they might say, with husbands ordered to keep their wives at home.
