Michelle Obama: Black Beauty… and Booty?
By Loryn Wilson - Nov 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pmErin Aubry Kaplan at Salon sings the praises of Michelle Obama’s beauty and her well-proportioned rear end:
But what really thrills me, what really feels liberating in a very personal way, is the official new prominence of Michelle Obama. Barack’s better half not only has stature but is statuesque. She has corruscating intelligence, beauty, style and — drumroll, please — a butt. (Yes, you read that right: I’m going to talk about the first lady’s butt.)
What a bonus! From the ocean of nastiness and confusion that defined this campaign from the beginning, Michelle rose up like Venus on the waves, keeping her coif above water and cruising the coattails of history to present us with a brand-new beauty norm before we knew it was even happening. (Read the rest of the article here)
I’ve written a lot about Michelle Obama on Pushback and on my personal blog, but I haven’t had a chance to talk about the issues surround the black female body and how refreshing it is to see a woman who looks like me–a tall, brown skinned woman with wide hips and a big butt.
I, like most black women, have had a love-hate relationship with my rear end. I love how it looks in a sweater dress but hate how it looks in slacks. I hate that I didn’t have anyone in the mainstream media save for the Williams sisters to look up to when it came to black body image (the Sir Mix-A-Lot video does NOT count). I loved that I had a mom who taught me how to love my body no matter what the shape.
So on that fateful night when Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee, I saw Michelle in that gorgeous purple dress and realized, “Yikes! Michelle has a butt like mine! This is gonna be AWESOME.”
It is too early to tell if this will lead to new beauty norm as Kaplan suggests, but I sure as hell hope so.
Right on, Loryn! But if I may point out one thing–I think most women in general, regardless of the color of their skin, have a love/hate relationship with their booties. I think MIchelle Obama’s appeal will extend well beyond the African-American community.
One thing I hope will come as a result of Michelle’s First Ladyship is that her sense of style will rub off on women who struggle with their body image. All too often I see women who are trying to coax their bodies into the latest fashion trend, and I wish as a society that we could somehow reject styles that are flattering only on stick-thin runway types. Michelle Obama is a wonderful example of how to dress fashionably, creating a style that flatters her best features while also not emphasizing the not-so-great features.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:24 pmThanks Loryn for your perspective. The body image for women of color will be brought to the forefront because of this. It was hidden before.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:49 pmI’m black and have slim hips with a small ass. I get so sick and tired of people, like the author Loryn Wilson, and their generalities.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:18 pmebbone:
i’m sorry that you’re in a minority, but if you look around you’ll see that it’s not just a generality.
also, did you miss the part where I said I was a black woman too?
December 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am