Is Michelle Obama's "Ass" Off Limits?
At the crux of Erin Aubrey Kaplan's humorous and cute Salon.com essay, "First Lady Got Back," is the simple admission that Michelle Obama--and by extension the First Family Obama--represent a "realness" that hasn't existed in Washington political circles in some time. Indeed in a society in which the notion of "fitness" has become not only a market unto itself but a mode of regulation that defines what bodies are "fit" to represent the American body politic, Michelle Obama's body invokes a realness that is both refreshing and affirming--in the way that that Propel Water commercial from a year ago (the one with the healthy sista strolling the streets getting her walk on to the gaze of male celebrities). But that doesn't mean that Kaplan's piece doesn't conjure a more troubling view.
Never before has a First Lady's body been subject to the amount of scrutiny and surveillance as is the case with Michelle Obama; she has been rhetorically poked, prodded and groped. Many would have found such a line of coverage unfathomable and even offensive if applied to women like Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, or Roselyn Carter, as was rightfully the case with depictions of Sarah Palin at the Vice-Presidential "MILF." While the cases of Palin and Obama may simply be the by-product of the so-called democratization of the media via the blogsphere and YouTube, it might be helpful to place this fascination with Michelle Obama's ass into some historical context.
Underlying this notion of "realness" that Michelle Obama embodies are notions of accessibility and availability. If there is anything that the history of black women in this country should teach us, is that the idea that black women's bodies were accessible and available to any--and all--concretely frames our understandings of black women's histories whether it be the spectacle of the "Hottentot Venus" (Saartjie Baartman), the tragedy of Crystal Mangum or the nameless and faceless victims of sexual violence and rape.
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Comments
1.
jburrell says:
Yes.
11/19/2008 at 12:49 PM