I recently came across a Facebook article about Michelle Obama. The article featured a picture of Michelle and Barack Obama standing by a window and gazing into each other’s eyes. The article featured several comments about the photo. They objectified her appearance, inferred upon her sex life, and shared their personal desires about exactly what they would do if they were Barack Obama.
One person eloquently wrote, “I bet Michelle is on BC, because DAMN that bod is smokin’.” Sexualizing Michelle Obama is obviously deeply misogynistic and problematic but also extremely disrespectful. Michelle Obama is not only the First Lady of the United States, but an incredibly successful attorney and professor. When Obama was in law school, one of his professors said that he was the second smartest person in the room, because Michelle was the smartest. Michelle Obama’s amazingness aside, society likes to give the illusion of social progress. Feminism has rebranded itself into pop culture. There are tons of ads for shirts that say “A woman’s place is in the House and the Senate.” Feminism has become a trend, a water down version of itself that trickles into mainstream media only when it is convenient. It often seems like society is getting more liberal when it’s really not. The fact that this article exists only proves that. On a side note, I’ve always found it a little strange that the media talks so much about Michelle Obama’s arms, when the appearance of any male candidate is rarely if ever discussed. Whether we are sexualizing the body of the First Lady of the United States, admiring her forearms, or presuming facts about her sex life, we are still objectifying women by reducing them to mere body parts that can be ridiculed, sensationalized, and discussed at great lengths.
On a side note, I’ve noticed that while a lot of body positivity campaigns emphasize confidence and self-empowerment, they also suggest that it is very important to value and appreciate one’s appearance. While feeling attractive and comfortable in your own body is valuable, these campaigns are ultimately shallow. They reduce women’s happiness to satisfaction of her appearance while damning the media for objectifying women when they are doing just the same. We need to work towards shifting the focus away from women’s bodies and onto the role of women in society. We are not encouraged to fight harassment, the wage gap or domestic aggression with the same fervor as with body positivity. No, instead “equality” is reduced to physical appearances, which is disgustingly disempowering to the feminist movement. Voting rights, equal pay, and equal representation are far beyond some bullshit idea of what a “real women should be.” Feminism should not be dictated by corporations that spread a shallow idea of what social progress should look like. Instead, feminism should spread through the people who don’t water it down, explain why it’s “good for men too!” and promote some bullshit idea of “body positivity” instead of real ideas and plans of action. The system is fucking ridiculous and people need to use their own brains.
