It takes a very “special” Black woman to sell herself on the auction block for a two piece and a biscuit, but only a true multimedia crack head can take another Black woman and throw them up on the auction block for a side of fries.
We’ve covered these types of dimwitted Black women on this blog before. Those idiots that cheered the acquittal of R. Kelly on ESSENCE.com. Those brain damaged miscreants who blamed a 12 year old girl for being raped by 21 men and boys. Sadists like Lauryn London who praise Black men who shoot other Black men in the head. Or the countless mothers who auction up their children to their boyfriends so they can “keep a man” while he is “messing” with their daughters or worse.
Its not as if we haven’t witnessed Black women who would sell another Black woman or girl down river. So I present to you our latest slave auctioneer, one Erin Aubrey Kaplan who decided to throw Michelle Obama up on the auction block so she could be one of the “cool Black kids” this week over at Salon.com
So apparently Erin Aubrey Kaplan , handmaiden of misogyny ,decided to sell MIchelle Obama’s behind. LITERALLY! Fresh off of her dazzling interview on 60 Minutes- demonstrating intellect, dignity, and class, Salon.com decided it was necessary to bring Michelle Obama down to size by comparing her to the women in Sir Mic-A-lot video “Baby Got Back.”
To carry out their dirty work to make sure that Black women are bereft of many images of themselves NOT viewed through the lens of the Regime of Bullets Booty and Bling, Salon acquired the services of Erin Aubry Kaplan to write this hack job called First lady got back:An Appreciation for Michelle Obama’s Beauty and Booty.
[W]hat 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.) Erin Aubry Kaplan
Oh really? Is your self esteem so damaged. Your intellect so limited. Your creativity so lacking that the most exciting thing about Michelle Obama, a Princeton and Harvard graduate, mother of two and corporate executive is her “booty?” Did all your buddies over at Salon.com tell you how clever you were? Did you feel like the very special clever Black person Erin? Did you get a gold star? I hope they paid you more than $1.25 per word, because surely selling Michelle Obama down river by chopping her up into pieces, marginalizing and dehumanizing her was worth more than a two piece and a biscuit. It gets worse.
As I gradually relaxed, as Michelle strode onto more stages and people started focusing on her clothes and presence instead of her patriotism, it dawned on me — good God, she has a butt! “Obama’s baby (mama) got back,” wrote one feminist blogger. “OMG, her butt is humongous!” went a typical comment on one African-American online forum, and while it isn’t humongous, per se, it is a solid, round, black, class-A boo-tay. Try as Michelle might to cover it with those Mamie Eisenhower skirts and sheath dresses meant to reassure mainstream voters, the butt would not be denied. Salon.com
So in other words, you sat idly by while Michelle Obama was objectified and marginalized and did nothing, in fact you celebrated it, then you trotted it out for Salon.com so everyone else could join in on your dysfunction? I feel like Ms. Sophia is The Color Purple “Allll my liiiiife I’ve had to fight….”
Now we’ll all be able to wear leggings to board meetings; we’ll sport pencil skirts sans the long jackets meant to cover the offending rear at big conferences where we have to make a good impression. It turns out that Sir Mix-A-Lot, he of “Baby Got Back” fame, was not a novelty but a prophet. Who knew? Give that guy a Cabinet post. Erin Aubry Kaplan
Take me now Lord! Take. Me. Now! She wants to give Sir Mix-A-Lot a cabinet post for bringing us this:
Erin Aubry Kaplan is what my friends and I like to call “Simple.” You know like the Mama who leaves her daughter down stairs with two teenage boys and doesn’t come running when here baby is screaming . We all know women like Erin Aubry Kaplan. Maybe their fathers didn’t love them enough or they were teased as children. Like the stripper who recruited a 12 year old girl to come dance in the club.They may be “simple,” but they are indeed dangerous. Simple Black women always manage to survive unscathed, but everything around them ends up scorched. Which is why they are to be avoided like the plague.
Erin Aubry Kaplan is one of those Black people. The ones that give others permission do dehumanize us. Like DL Hughley who went on the Tonight Show to assure America that is was okay to consider Black women ugly. Or Nas who runs around assuring others its okay to refer to Black people as N*ggers. Or this girl who assures her white friends that it is okay to dress up as Klansmen for Halloween.
Yes Erin Aubry Kaplan in another time would have been the sister who ran to tell Miss Pitty Pat that Lil’ Harriet Tubman was planning to run away that evening in hopes that Miss Pitty Pat would let Lil’ Erin sleep in the big house that night. Simple! This means Erin is going to get a LOT of work over the next four years, because there is always room in the Big House for women like Erin Aubry Kaplan… until Erin gets sold down river. Simple!
You can read my more sedate response to this foolishness over at Michelle Obama Watch.
75 comments ↓
I, too, was appalled by that article. Michelle Obama is NOT the new Venus Hottentot!
Oh Lawd why Lawd do we have to put up with these bufoons in the media who claim to represent us.
I bet that Erin thinks she is real “edumacated” b/c she was able to degrade black women down in proper english in an article on Salon, but she is no better than a minstrel rappper hood measuring a womans worth by her booty.
I feel like nowadays so called black intellectuals are kind of anti-intellectual. Most of them just don’t come across as too intelligent to me. They end up stooping down to the lowest common denominator to keep a gig going in the media.
While I do believe you’re overreacting a bit…okay a lot. I think the article was inappropiate. But, it was no more inappropiate than all the “hot” talk that went on when Sarah Palin was in the race….inappropiate, but to be expected when there is an attractive woman involved.
Let’s face it, she’s the best looking first lady since Jackie-O (who wasn’t pretty but had the “it” factor). You’re gonna hear comments about her looks and body. And yes, she is stacked…so you gonna here about that as well.
Regardless of how accomplished a woman is, a woman is still judged by how she looks…being the First Lady isn’t going to change that. I think it was crass, but ultimately, not all that serious.
Oh and in private conversation Michelle’s ass comes up quite a bit…the woman is built and I don’t know a whole lot of red blooded males who don’t appreciate that.
The conversations should probably be left in private.
I don’t know how to respond.
I read the article and I am just wondering how does a woman go so wrong?
How do they [people who think the way she does] keep getting these very public platforms?
I would think that other BW would want to protect her image.
It’s true that bodies of all shapes and sizes are beautiful. As humans, it’s natural to want to look.
But the trouble with focusing on Michelle Obama’s butt, or assessing whether Jackie O is pretty, etc. is that this approach holds women up to judgment on the basis of their physical attributes. Men are also described as attractive but are rarely reduced to a body part or their prettiness. The flip side of this is the harsh judgment of the physical appearance of women like Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton. These judgments are reductive since they usually take place at the expense of an analysis of/respect for/engagement with women’s views and the content of their characters.
Let’s reconsider this approach to women in general.
i think you all have captured my feelings. this blows my mind. when will we sistas just stop, be quiet, get still, and hear ourselves for what we need to do in order to heal?
@JJ, Is that you old friend? The last time I saw you in the comments, it was on the back of a milk carton. Anywhoo as usual, you and I disagree on something, but I am heartened that even you feel the article is inappropriate.
Y’all know it REALLY has to be bad for JJ to call it inappropriate.
In my circle of co-workers we frequently talk about how well Michelle Obama looks in her clothing; we talk about Pres. Elect Obama in the same manner, they are both very attractive individuals. These conversations are kept very quiet and private.
I’m not happy that this type of commentary is made ‘news’…there would be outcries if a white male like Imus did an article like this. There would also be further outcries for ‘off with his head’ so to speak.
I’m glad that Michelle is secure in herself enough to wear what she wants and to speak up for herself when necessary, but it’s also a diservice IMO to her accomplishments and intelligence to reduce her presence to her backside.
It’s not okay for anyone to reduce her to the typical ‘booty call’ mentality.
Some people consider this article harmless, complimentary even. I know it’s crazy! First Salon talks about how Michelle is giving up so much by being a mere wife and mother, albeit a First Lady and NOW we’re talking about her boo-tay? I mean yes I’ve noticed it because I have a pair of working eyes but this really is quite racist to focus on it because it belongs to a shapely Black woman. I can’t remember ever reading an article about any other FLOTUS’s rear end. In our private discourse we can certainly compliment her but we really shouldn’t be focusing on her physicality exclusively. But if she had been shorter and heavier they would’ve trotted out the Mammy/Aunt Jemima references i.e how motherly, how soothing she is. It would’ve been something.
While black women have clearly been objectified for years and years, I do not agree with your take on this article. After reading it, I feel that the author - although possibly misguided, has chosen to focus on one of the many, but most prominent characteristics that many black women share, but in the professional world, have had to downplay. I think it is nice to see Michelle Obama, who is a shapely woman that looks like many black women in the derrière, in a position of prominence to be revered by the nation and others. Keep in mind that not even 100 years ago, the bodies of black women (including the butt) were used in “scientific studies” as a part of eugenics to determine our degeneracy or non-humanness. Yet, Michelle Obama, a woman who embodies all of the characteristics that were used to dehumanize black woman is on the way to becoming a national icon. Now was this the best area to focus on? Maybe not for a published book or a magazine. Should Baby Got Back replace the national anthem? Hell no. Should Sir mix a lot be in the cabinet? What a joke. But, aside from all of this, the author was expressing her opinion, and I do not judge her for that. And to call the author foolish and misogynistic is a bit much for an article that praises the uniqueness that is shared by many black women. True, this “uniqueness” is ridiculously splayed over BET which would make any black woman want to scream over ANYONE mentioning the butt of a black woman, but I think like JJ said, it’s not that serious.
Agreed (post below). Honestly, I noticed it too and that’s just because I tend to look at bodies out of natural habit; HOWEVER, I did not notice it until literally a couple days ago. Everything else about her outshines the mere physical aspects.
To reduce her to her derriere is demeaning and immature. Never heard anything like this about past First Ladies.
____________________________________________
Mildred Lewis on 11.18.08 at 9:29 am
It’s true that bodies of all shapes and sizes are beautiful. As humans, it’s natural to want to look.
But the trouble with focusing on Michelle Obama’s butt, or assessing whether Jackie O is pretty, etc. is that this approach holds women up to judgment on the basis of their physical attributes. Men are also described as attractive but are rarely reduced to a body part or their prettiness. The flip side of this is the harsh judgment of the physical appearance of women like Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton. These judgments are reductive since they usually take place at the expense of an analysis of/respect for/engagement with women’s views and the content of their characters.
Let’s reconsider this approach to women in general.
This is sad. When will black people learn? How does an EDUCATED blk woman get reduced to her butt. She will turn into a Princess Diana, an icon. She should not be reduced to her booty. This is low..
kinda crass.
Joan Walsh has spoken:
From Joan Walsh
Thanks catamitebastard and Oscar the Grouch — and to whoever said I’m to blame, thank you too, because I totally am.
I have loved Erin Aubry Kaplan’s writing since before I joined Salon, and I’m proud of this piece. If having a black president and first lady is going to narrow what we talk about, wow, that would be sad. But I promise it won’t — at least not on Salon.
—
She’s proud of diminishing Michelle to a retrograde fantasy.
This kind of feminism I don’t need.
Well, she is well known for her LA Weekly article “The Butt” - but that’s not the point. I agree with your view with the article, she placed WAY too much emphasis on her butt. I mean, if she wanted to talk about how she’s a confident first lady who takes care of her body, then that’s different - but instead she’s like “She’s intelligent, a great mom, BUT MAN LOOK AT THAT ASS!”.
Like wth? If a man said that to me, I’d be appalled because it’s like he’s pushing aside everything that I stand for and telling me that he wouldn’t praise me as much if I didn’t have a booty. This article is JUST WRONG period.
For those who are saying that Gina is overreacting and the author is just talking about how it’s good to see a black woman show off her curves in the professional setting - you are clearly missing the point and giving the author TOO much credit. She ain’t saying that, because Condelezza Rice showed some legs before and she didn’t get “praised” (read “demeaned”) for it. Get out of here with that BS.
Like I’ve said so many times before we’re (Black people, often Blak women
), our own worst enemy!
True we have a long ways to go to get the country to change how they think about us, but we have a larger divide right in our own communities!
Gina (gem2001): We’ve covered these types of dimwitted Black women on this blog before. Those idiots that cheered the acquittal of R. Kelly on ESSENCE.com. Those brain damaged miscreants who blamed a 12 year old girl for being raped by 21 men and boys. Sadists like Lauryn London who praise Black men who shoot other Black men in the head. Or the countless mothers who auction up their children to their boyfriends so they can “keep a man” while he is “messing” with their daughters or worse.
Its not as if we haven’t witnessed Black women who would sell another Black woman or girl down river. So I present to you our latest slave auctioneer, one Erin Aubrey Kaplan who decided to throw Michelle Obama up on the auction block so she could be one of the “cool Black kids” this week over at Salon.com
Gina see this is why I love you man! You are wise! I bow down to you. Thank God for you, Evia, your blogs and those other black women who have blogs like yours because THAT is the stuff that has been the bane of my life around other black people pretty much since I was 13 years old!
I am so tired of black people just focusing or dying for the chance to focus on the arse on a black woman as if that’s such a huge (not a pun here!) deal! It’s black people like that, especially the DBR black men who reduce black women to their private parts in public without shame, who make me feel like going to the best plastic surgeon and say “Please make my arse an east Asian arse!”
LOL Gina you’re just telling the truth. And people who think it’s not such a big deal are the same people who have no problem with black women being the over-sexed stereotypical b****es and h**s within the media or the beloved ‘Server of the Pancakes’. LOL
SOME black women have only just gotten on to the feminism train (very late) and only JUSt started to ask themselves ‘Hey what about me?’ instead of always checking for ‘bruh man’ every five seconds of their confused lives!
Oshun: I don’t know how to respond.
I read the article and I am just wondering how does a woman go so wrong?
How do they [people who think the way she does] keep getting these very public platforms?
I would think that other BW would want to protect her image.
Oshun, please. Black women to this day some of them still wanna protect a black man’s back, and a black man’s image only.
Some black women will protect R. Kelly’s image first still, somebody who will hang out by their daughter’s school yard WAYYYYY before they look out for themselves and other black women like them!
I don’t know why black women didn’t do something and form a NOW-type situation like white women did 40 years ago but least somebody is finally waking up and smelling some fresh made Joe! LOL
Is she saying that she’s a lesbian? Is that her real message? I’m missing the point of her article. Wanda Sykes just came out the other day; maybe that’s what her next article will be about.
I’ve never really looked at Michelle Obama’s body, front or back. Heck, I don’t even look at other women that hard. A man, sure, but another woman? I don’t get it.
I’m sincerely impressed by Michelle Obama’s dedication to her children. She makes me think of my own mother.
Man, the things I learn about low-minded people. It’s always about the genitalia with them, isn’t it? Phew.
I saw this piece at salon last night, before I read WAOD’s response to it. I skimmed it; I thought it was silly. It was in bad taste towards Mrs. Obama, and made the author, not Michelle Obama, look stupid and simple-minded. I hope that the writer of that piece has not set the stage for how MO’s beauty will be talked about.
Let’s face it, MO’s looks will be talked about, because she is the first First Lady in a long, long, long time who (please don’t jump all over me for saying what I am about to write) doesn’t look like your mom, she does not look matronly. She is statuesque and fit. She is regal-looking. She is young, and because she is a black woman, looks ten years younger than her age. She doesn’t dress dowdily. She is a head-turner. (I am looking at the slide show that is playing through my mind, and come to think of it, there was not one first lady, going back to Pat Nixon, except for Michelle, who would be considered a head-turner. Jackie Kennedy had style, but, in my opinion, she was not a head turner. Nancy Reagan, too, had style, but she was not a head turner. )
So, regardless of her race, and because of her good looks, MO is going to get attention from the media because of her looks.
Hello Gina,
I posted on our site about the 2009 BWB conference in Chicago. I look forward to attending again for Round 2
For those readers and yourself who may or may not know anything about Erin Aubry Kaplan, I wanted to leave a link to just a few of her articles. http://threebrothersandasister.blogspot.com/search?q=erin+aubry+kaplan.
Erin occasionally blogs over at 3BAAS and I can tell you, her perspective is usually very provocative. Whether you agree with her or not, the sistah is a gifted and respected journalist in every sense of the word.
Personally, I appreciated the point Erin was making and didn’t take offense at all. Several black men I know have commented on soon-to-be First Lady Obama’s derriere in glowing terms. Not to sexualize her, but simply acknowledging in an endearing way that Michelle is a smart, classy, down 100% “black woman”.
Take offense if you will, but there’s a big difference between celebrating someone’s aesthetic disposition, and maliciously demeaning it. Other cultures don’t have any qualms about promoting what they consider to be “beautiful” features.
Now, sistahs have their ambassador. Erin just put it out there!
I should have both of you on my next blogtalkradio show to discuss this more. Are you down???
the sistah is a gifted and respected journalist in every sense of the word.
Well we are not respecting or appreciating what she has gifted us with on this particular occasion. Now I have to finish writing my next post comparing Joan Walsh of Salon.com to Miss Pitty Pat from Gone With the Wind.
Its amazing that here we have aBlack woman who is a Princeton and Harvard grad, a loving mother, fashion goddess, bright, articulate, and all Erin could find admirable was her behind.
I highly doubt I would survive an interaction with such a simple-minded Black woman without having a stroke so I will take a pass on the podcast. We’re only 24 hours out. This thing isn’t going away. I hope she got a fat check from Joan Walsh for this fooleywang material.
I don’t think the article was appropriate considering what a highly educated woman Michelle is.
Male friends have told me (honestly, they swear) how much time men spend thinking and talking about a woman’s ass. I was amazed.
This article is absurd. This type of writing and thinking is NOT to be encouraged. The writing is a demonstration of how little respect Black women (regardless of achievement) are shown in this society.
Gina, you are right. Given MO’s achievements and contributions, her butt should be the last topic of conversation. Can you image a white First Lady as the subject of such an article (even if she did have a big butt)? Nobody would dare sign the by-line.
Oh I just had to check back. And what do I find. Friend of apologist for and excuser of DL Idiot Kevin Ross coming here to tell us how respectable this pseudo-intelligentsia Slave Catcher Erin Kaplan is. Are we supposed to change our minds now because Kevvy Kev says its all good? Because some Black men like the way Michelle looks. Really? Who cares what they think because we could round up a bunch that thinks she’s ugly. And? I have two words - which I wrote on my blog post today: Hottentot Venus. When is it ok to talk about a First Lady’s physicality: when she’s a Black woman. This is the line in the sand and after Joan Walsh (I’m such an oppressed white woman here me roar) said those that objected to the article have a “narrow focus”. Because what, respect is so confining? It is sooo on now!!!
Faith said “Friend of apologist for and excuser of DL Idiot Kevin Ross coming here to tell us how respectable this pseudo-intelligentsia Slave Catcher Erin Kaplan is.”
OMG FIYAH! So on point. So on point. We must be related “pseudo-intelligentsia slave catcher” I am so mad you came up with that first.
Had I not seen this (and ALL the other links) with my own eyes…. Sad to say that I never cease to be amazed. I can’t even think of legitimate auctions without thinking of slave auction centers in one of many cities Fayetteville, Charleston, New Orleans, Montgomery, and a host of others. I don’t think any of this attempt at a story neither funny nor appropriate. I am surprised the PC police didn’t stop this one. My peoples my peoples!
Interesting… I don’t get published in newspapers and major blogs like Salon because I didn’t graduate from the Ivy League and I don’t have connections with major publishers…. yet people like this are getting published all over the place….no problem.
It’s the same thing with the DL Hughley madness. The gatekeepers (publishers, TV producers, website owners) often pick from the bottom of the barrel where the garbage sinks, when it comes to providing a platform for Black bloggers and writers. Rarely do they go for the cream on top. The worst among us always seem to get rewarded.
Just another reason why I hate being Black.
Is there any way I can quit the World????
Yeah… yeah, I know the answer.
As Cornel West said one time… there is no getting out of here (talking about the World we live). We’re stuck.
Kevin Ross: Not to sexualize her, but simply acknowledging in an endearing way that Michelle is a smart, classy, down 100% “black woman”.
Take offense if you will, but there’s a big difference between celebrating someone’s aesthetic disposition, and maliciously demeaning it. Other cultures don’t have any qualms about promoting what they consider to be “beautiful” features.
deborah: The writing is a demonstration of how little respect Black women (regardless of achievement) are shown in this society.
Gina, you are right. Given MO’s achievements and contributions, her butt should be the last topic of conversation. Can you image a white First Lady as the subject of such an article (even if she did have a big butt)? Nobody would dare sign the by-line.
Faith: I have two words - which I wrote on my blog post today: Hottentot Venus. When is it ok to talk about a First Lady’s physicality: when she’s a Black woman. This is the line in the sand and after Joan Walsh (I’m such an oppressed white woman here me roar) said those that objected to the article have a “narrow focus”. Because what, respect is so confining? It is sooo on now!!!
Oh my days! Faith and deborah you guys are both SO right on the money! There is not a shred of respect for black women at all otu there these days nor during any day that came before! I always knew that THE DAY black women especially black American women would wake up, open their own eyes, and see the truth about that fact, that that would be a DAY! A day even for fanfare and realization!
As for that other fool up there talking, these black men cannot even apologize or even say that they are dead WRONG with what they come out with saying about black women.
Why would I want to ever deal with more black men or even give birth to any black men when they still think it’s just OK to as usual act so darn FAMILIAR like it’s always OK for them to reduce black women to their private parts or some other such sexist misogynistic foolishness that black men feel that their entitled to when it comes to black women that they hardly ever try with non-black women?
With black men such as what we’re surround by and their ridiculous self-absorbed, silly, FAMILIAR and inconsiderate mind-sets who needs more of ‘em on this planet? Blasted hell at this rate Klan would be more comfortable to deal with! LOL
Bane of my life I tell you.
Within the French and Spanish language, I am sure some of you have realized that they still use both a Formal version of the word ‘You’ and a FAMILIAR version of the word ‘You’.
This is because in order to be polite with PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW OR KNOW WELL and to show the proper respect you should use the Formal ‘You’ form in French and Spanish-speaking society.
Because Familiarity is not a good thing or has negative connotations within those societies; a concept that’s sadly lost on a lot of black people especially with regards to relations between black men and black women.
I read about a British white woman who has been travelling back and forth between Britain and France and has French friends that she’s been friends for the past 15 years. She said in an article that she felt upset that those same old French friends of hers still referred to her in a formal way with the Formal form of the word ‘You’ when they spoke with her.
She confronted her French friends and told them it made her feel as though they didn’t feel close to her or friendly with her after all those years of knowing her. And these French people said that ‘No’ that wasn’t the case, not from their point of view. The French friends she had from way back said that even after years and year THEY STILL WANTED TO SHOW RESPECT FOR THEIR BRITISH FRIEND and THAT’S why they still use the Formal form of ‘You’ when they speak to this woman. Even if she is a close friend of theirs!
What IS it though about BLACK people especially that they feel they can be so darn FAMILIAR about every black person, especially BLACK WOMEN, who they don’t even know or know well, everywhere that you go? Especially with behavior and conduct from black men towards black women?
What is UP with that? Huh?
When y’all have your answer to that, THAT is when you will find the root of truth of that foolishness behind black people and their disrespect for Michelle Obama and other black women!
I am w/ you AI, I have talented to friends who have given up on their dreams or are still struggling to get their work published. Yes these Ivy League black folks who get the opportunities continue to disappoint. They really make me question affirmative action or maybe the Ivy League has done a number on their brain.
No matter how others attempt to validify/justify/ or rationalize it, to me it will never be okay to reduce the merits of our First Lady to body parts.
There are too many important things to discuss.
No matter how others attempt to validify/justify/ or rationalize it, to me it will never be okay to reduce the merits of our First Lady to body parts.
There are too many important things to discuss.
I’ve read this article three times now (as well as every comment left here so far today) and as much as I wanted to agree with your premise, I just don’t see any maliciousness behind her words.
Full of hyperbole? Yes. Pandering? Probably. Inappropriate? Eh. If this piece were in the New York Times or Harper’s Bazaar, then yes…but this was Salon, where many of the articles are usually as “bloggy” as one could be. Plus, she seems to have a bit of a “writing about butts” fetish”, so her words didn’t seem particularly unnerving.
Like I alluded to before, I just don’t think this author and this particular article should be lumped in with the dangerous nincompoops exhibited in your second paragraph.
So this women went to the Ivy League in order to be “qualified” to write this piece of tomfoolery? I hope the student loan debt was worth it. From reading this piece written by this Ivy League graduate, I don’t think so. In fact, I hope she’s still mired in student loan debt - that would be fitting.
Ummm, maybe it’s the ‘Kaplan’ in Erin’s name that makes people feel like they should just easily write that article off?
JJ,
Much of the “hot” talk about Sarah Palin was done by her own party. Remember the buttons at the RNC Convention?
Yeah.
Also, for those who think the criticism is an “overreaction”, here’s the thing: I have NEVER see an article in a major magazine that discussed the anatomical attributes of any other First Lady of the United States.
Oh, wait. Folk have dogged Senator Clinton out about her hips, haven’t they?
So, what to Mrs. Obama and Senator Clinton have in common? They are intelligent women who think for themselves and have the audacity to use their intelligence and speak their minds.
Hmm. So do we as a society still have a need to put non-male dependent women in their “place”?
Maybe a talk show discussion is needed.
A friend of mine warned me that if Barack Obama was elected, that folk would lose their minds and feel like they could say or write ANYTHING about black folk; the fact of a black President means we’s all equal now.
That kind of thinking is so magnificently illogical that it makes me realize how incredibly broken the American education system (public and private) truly is.
Erin Aubry Kaplan has touched a serious nerve. Or in this case, a butt!
Wednesday November 19 on The Kevin Ross Show, meet the writer that created the firestorm and find out exactly what was her motivation behind the article. Is the soon-to-be First Lady being unfairly sexualized, or does her figure represent a triumph for women of color with “real curves”? Listen online or feel free to call in at (347) 945-5939.
Hold on to your Spanx ladies, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. That’s tonight at 7pm (PST), only on Blogtalkradio
Thanks Gina, you did put together Civil Rights Industrial Complex so feel free to use another appropriate phrase!
thechamp: i totally agree. i didn’t see anything inappropriate about the article.
everyone, yes, even kaplan is entitled to her opinion. and to call her a “handmaiden of misogyny” is just tasteless to me.
just as tasteless as it it purported the said article is, actually.
Maybe ‘handmaiden of CRAP’ is better because it certainly sounds more precise to me.
It’s sad that the ‘entitlement’ is reduced to voicing her educated opinion about the First Ladys’ butt. What?, Michelle hasn’t done anything else worth mentioning? And I suppose it’s okay if kids start teasing Malia/Sasha about their mom’s ample backside that they may have overheard others talking about? Again I say too many are ok with this because to some black women don’t matter even if they make it to the white house.
But some people will go crazy now that a man has been refered to as a ‘house negro’ by crazy Muslims. I don’t condone this either, but I don’t care about it more because it’s in reference to a man.
I will not waste my time reading the piece at Salon, it’s not even worth it. Some people are still trying to find their place in society and coming into their own being. Everyone knows that in America, everything and almost everyone is superficial regardless of what any woman accomplishes.
They may never know who she is as an individual and she and every woman in this country will always be judged by their outward appearance. The level of knowledge or lack there of never comes into play when dealing with ignorant and shallow people.
Mrs. Obama is not Jackie O and nor is she trying to be_ she is Michelle L. Obama, an educated, articulate, non-sufferer of PTSD, victim hood and low self-esteem as others wish she had.
What I find interesting is that our common everyday language, which is full of slights, jabs, insults, opinions and ideas meant to humiliate and dis-empower, have become the norm in all walks of life and will become even more so since this election.
Today I read Erin Aubrey Kaplan’s essay. It was through this blog that I had first heard about Erin’s essay. Based the excerpts published on this blog and WAOD’s response to the article, I was confident that WAOD’s criticism of the article was valid. However, after reading the article, I was actually moved by it.
For me, the article speaks to the painful reality that many Black woman face everyday when they have to walk out the door and into a world that judges them to be less beautiful because of physical attributes that have not – (perhaps until to now, which is Erin’s wish) – fit into the world’s standard of beauty. Our hair is different. Our color is different. Our noses are different. Our lips are different. And yes – our posteriors are different.
Kaplan’s essay made me think of my niece who is in her early twenties. She, unlike my sisters and me, has a big posterior. I would tease her – using that same phrase “baby got back!” But until now, I had never considered the possibility that having a shapely back-side would make her any more self-conscious than she is just being a young Black woman trying to make her way in this world. However, I am all to familiar with that self-annihilating game we play each morning as we try our best to “look” assimilated and to not unintentionally offend them.
To those who are displeased with the essay, I urge you to re-read it. But don’t read it through that jaundiced lens colored by the assaults from BET, rap music, R-Kelly, misogyny, and the like. The essay is written in defense of Ms. Obama and to remind the world (and us) that Black is indeed beautiful.
OH how n ice. now there’s going to be a whole podcast about this…
Moved by it? Moved by black people always talking about a black woman’s bum or other body part yet again? Oy gevalt!
All black people look different from each other let alone everybody else on the planet; it will be nice when one day black people finally embrace individualism for a change. Instead of kowtowing to the Great Black Monolith Personality Mould or the Great Black Monolith Body Mould.
‘We’ though don’t have to try to look assimilated or try hard not offend anybody, all we have to do is walk out of our front doors to get from point A to point B and sometimes there are still black people faithfully FAMILIAR as always, saying or doing something offensive when they’re referring to you. THAT’S the offense.
Whoever wrote this article is just so used to the slap-dahs, disrespectful ‘entitlement’ and familiarity between black people and that’s why they thought it was OK to write that article about Michelle Obama. They weren’t defending her; they just think it’s OK to say petty and offensive things about black women because nobody would ever seem to take notice or ever be concerened with a black woman.
And how are people not supposed to notice R. Kelly, misogynistic hip hop, and current BET when people just let them through the gate and never stop them from entering in the first place?
LOL
Yes, sure, Kaplan’s INTENT was to uplift, and to celebrate the milestone of having African beauty in the White House. And I’m very sorry she’s been made to feel bad about her bottom. But her execution was sadly lacking. In her attempt at glorifying, she resorted to ugly “Sapphire” and “Jezebel” stereotypes, equating a large backside with “ghetto” (really? Ms Obama is “ghetto” now? It this really all that complimentary, in this day and age?) and talked about her “kicking [Barack Obama's] ass” — classic stereotype of the black woman being a henpecking, nagging ball and chain on the hapless black man. (Not to mention she felt the need to denigrate women of other races as well, which is just tacky.)
Back in the day, the press was more regularly vicious (check out some of the things said about Mamie Eisenhower, and yes we have seen whole columns dedicated to Hillary Clintons cleavage). But we should at least attempt to move beyond that now, especially when it comes to our own.
I would have loved to see this same topic handled by, say, Toni Morrison. But Kaplan dropped the ball.
Erin Kaplan is reflective of many wounded souls in our community the pathology of white racism, supremacy, entitlement, has impacted to many for to long.
Erin has digested this contempt for or humanity by convincing herself with this effort she can secure validation and self worth in the white liberal chatter class.
So now where do we go from here ..I recommend when we encounter this fractured souls in our lives and orbits we reach out and heal the wounded and along the way make sure the Salon’s and the chatter class reflect and react before they consider what they do there is a universal law which returns what is sent….
ak said: Whoever wrote this article is just so used to the slap-dahs, disrespectful ‘entitlement’ and familiarity between black people and that’s why they thought it was OK to write that article about Michelle Obama. They weren’t defending her; they just think it’s OK to say petty and offensive things about black women because nobody would ever seem to take notice or ever be concerened with a black woman.
Thank you.
I just want people who work for the media to ease up - to the power of ten - this pathological notion that we, black women, and black men, solely exist for denigration as entertainment. It needs to rest for a few decades. If they have to be bankrupted for it to happen, so be it.
Goldenah: I just want people who work for the media to ease up - to the power of ten - this pathological notion that we, black women, and black men, solely exist for denigration as entertainment. It needs to rest for a few decades. If they have to be bankrupted for it to happen, so be it.
I thank you too! What you said above needs to come to fruition like NOW!
Everything about black women and at times black men as well in the public eye is so frivolous, light-hearted and buffoonish to people now that they just take every single black person for granted and end up giving NOBODY a shred of respect so that they can keep their dignity.
And because Michelle is not the President and is a black woman “Oh well it should be safe to say anything about her shouldn’t it? Oh we’re not REALLY targeting her are we? Oh that’s such a harsh word, ‘targeting’!”
Deliver me Lord because I am READY!
cinco: And I suppose it’s okay if kids start teasing Malia/Sasha about their mom’s ample backside that they may have overheard others talking about? Again I say too many are ok with this because to some black women don’t matter even if they make it to the white house.
And cinco yes thank you for reminding us about the Obamas’ young and impressionable daughters. How could I even, like a fool, forget about them?
I imagine that in some shape or form negative rumours or gossip about their mother and/or father will filter back to them through the years sadly. So that would be a REALLY good reason to ease up on talking about Michelle Obama like she should be on the cover of, or inside of King or Maxim magazine.
I mean don’t you think so?
I forced myself to listen to that podcast - only because Pam Spaulding was also on to talk about Prop 8. Some people don’t have a problem with the discussion about acknowledging the differences and beauty of Black women and I can see how if you ignore all the drivel the article could have had merit. If it had been a serious conversation about how different it is just to have a Black woman as First Lady and a comparison about the range of our beauty and style along with her accomplishments it could’ve been a niece piece.
I think a better writer with more respect for Black women should discuss this and it should be targeted for the appropriate audience as well. Salon’s audience is mostly white women.
Erin Kaplan I found to be very flippant and unconcerned about people’s concerns. She claimed those that don’t agree just don’t get it. Focusing on Michelle’s ass wasn’t about Michelle it was about HER. She’s a respected journalist (that I’d never heard of prior to this trash).
Then the question posed was how would all those that didn’t have a problem with the article as it was written would like it if the author had been a white person or a white man. THEN it became a problem. I believe Kevin made some comment about how we can’t always get up in arms over reacting to how white people view us at the beginning of the podcast but didn’t say anything about that response.
One younger Black man said he liked the article as it was a conversation about “our women” that was positive. So again, if someone who sees no harm in it doesn’t want to hear it coming from whites why support it at all? Once that door has been opened you cannot control who comes in.
Then an older Black man called in later to say he thought Black people would never learn and how disrespectful it was to even discuss Michelle’s body because she was Barack’s wife and we shouldn’t be talking her that way.
@waltbennet you certainly are spendign a great deal of time trolling a blog you think is only about page clicks and lacks integrity. Welcome to our world, the disgruntled readers association meets on Wednesday at Bedside Baptist Church. As always if you hate the blog or don’t like it, there is the door. Good Day and good luck!
Salon called President-Elect Obama UPPITY.
not hinted around it
CALLED HIM UPPITY
ALWAYS keep that in the back of your mind when you read ANYTHING OBAMA-related at Salon.
Faith: Then the question posed was how would all those that didn’t have a problem with the article as it was written would like it if the author had been a white person or a white man. THEN it became a problem. I believe Kevin made some comment about how we can’t always get up in arms over reacting to how white people view us at the beginning of the podcast but didn’t say anything about that response.
One younger Black man said he liked the article as it was a conversation about “our women” that was positive. So again, if someone who sees no harm in it doesn’t want to hear it coming from whites why support it at all? Once that door has been opened you cannot control who comes in.
Then an older Black man called in later to say he thought Black people would never learn and how disrespectful it was to even discuss Michelle’s body because she was Barack’s wife and we shouldn’t be talking her that way.
Faith I didn’t hear the podcast but what a shame is it eh? That it takes someone of an older generation to point out the disrespect and inconsideration for a woman that should be as plain as the nose on one’s face.
It just goes to show you that as time goes on we’ve been degenerating some what instead of getting better and improving through the years with our basic relations between other black people.
I hate to be pessimistic but I feel like that too sometimes that ‘we will never learn’ and never ‘get it’.
‘We’, there’s that banal usage of that word again, are so FAMILIAR with each other that we feel that we can say whatever we want or do what ever we want to each other with no ounce of respect, and certainly never anything close to reverance.
When the person who long ago came up with ‘FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT’ I wonder what made them say that, you know, what possessed them or made them come out with that saying out loud.
From the time black women got to these shores, our personhood has never been our own. Who, what, why and how we are seems to be the domain of those who are NOT us. From our intellect to our physicality to our sexuality, way too many people have an opinion and aren’t afraid to impose them on black women. It’s sad that we cannot celebrate our physical selves without invoking the spectre of Sarah Bartmaann–the Hottentot Venus.
Erin Aubrey Kaplan’s article–like it or not–addresses in a way some of the issues that black women in the country deal with on an everyday basis. Michelle Obama has been subjected to the so-called “stigma” of the Angry Black Woman, and thusly has had to tone herself down in order not to “threaten” white society. Don’t you ever wonder why it’s okay for us to chemically destroy our hair, but it’s not okay for us to go natural or wear braids (”radical”)? It’s okay to try to force ourselves into the modern version of girdles or to wear loose-fitting clothing in order to disguise that aspect (no pun intended) which has marked us as “primitive”? Remember how many of us agonized over the size of our lips–only now it’s fine because Angelina Jolie has a “generous” mouth?
So when do we black women get to celebrate the totality of who we are without the endless handwringing? The personal has become WAY too political and I’m not very comfortable with that.
True, the patriarchy will reduce women down to their attendant body parts in order not to have to take us seriously, but until women rule the world, we have to speak out and rise above it. But we also have to not be afraid of the diversity of our physical selves and learn to be proud of what we look like as well as what we have accomplished intellectually. In other words, we need a BALANCE.
So let’s be happy that we finally have a First Lady who’s brilliant, accomplished, and shaped like many women regardless of color. Let’s celebrate that Narciso Rodriguez red/black sheath dress that neither Laura, Sarah or Cindy could have ever pulled off. Let’s celebrate the image of strong black love and respect. between Barack and Michelle–something the mass media claims doesn’t exist–even though we know it does.
Let’s start defining for OURSELVES the beauty and the diversity of black women. Self-determination is a right.
Yeah well that Kaplan piece was IMBALANCED.
Trying to bring an accomplished black woman from a middle class financial bracket who is in the public eye for marrying someone who is now President to the level of some forgettable face (or body more like) of some girl in King magazine is NOT balanced.
They may have well as just said something that amounts to ‘Let’s SMACK the UPPITY right outta her!’
They don’t have a modicum of discretion, consideration, or anything positive to think of to stop them from writing an article that would compare Michelle Obama or someone else like her to a video chick.
And these days where DON’T you see black women of any age wearing natural hair? I don’t think black women try to cover up their behinds under baggy clothing or try to ‘diminish’ (?) it at all under clothing, not these days, and not in the office either. And when you go to night clubs, the bum is the first thing to be shaken when people are dancing, so I don’t think that black women are ashamed of their posteriors.
But if you have any amount of respect for a black woman you just would never refer to her private parts over and over again or at all, nor just assume that it’s OK to speak about her like that because she’s ‘one of your own’ (ugh!)
People can see the ‘parts’ for themselves, they are not blind and nobody’s trying to hide or cover up anything. So why just assume it’s OK to go on and on about?
Michelle is not a saint or an angel but she is a black woman in the public eye who I really want to hold in high regard, just as how I hold Oprah and certain other black women in high regard. But now it’s like certain brain-dead dastards are just dying to take that away from me, and breaking their necks to do so.
Why?
AHA! AHA I say!
This is what I should have said YEARS ago when this particular post first started LOL!
We’re not talking about Naomi Campbell someone who works in an industry where it goes without saying that a woman’s use is based on her looks, we’re talking about a lawyer who is now a First Lady.
But speaking of MODELS, look toward a certain CARLA BRUNI.
The supermodel who is roughly about Naomi’s age or a little older, who has to give all that up to be the French President Sarkozy’s wife!
Hello follow me on this one!
The French were angry with Sarkozy because they felt he dumped his first wife for a model as soon as he won his Presidency in France but they really don’t have a bad or disparaging thing to say about THEIR First Lady Carla Bruni, a woman who once made a living of selling, at least, the image of her body and face.
Now put THAT in your pipe and smoke that! Why is there so much respect for that recent First Lady who has had her body paraded up and down in the public eye plenty of times?
And after all of that who’s talking about Carla Bruni’s T and A?
The French like to see the image of the people running their country in the most dignified manner possible and they’re not ashamed of that! Even if they have mistresses and kids outside of their marriages, if a French president is holding it down and has the right attitude, nobody will get all base, crass, and disparaging.
So what is up with all this?
My response was in any way saying that it’s okay for anyone to reduce Michelle Obama–or for that matter–ANY black woman to the sum of her body parts. I believe that Michelle Obama has a hell of a lot more to bring to the table than just her rear end, but I’m certainly not going to read more into it than necessary.
Even had this article not been written, the attempts at “putting the coloreds in their place” has already been happening in regards to Barack and Michelle. Many Americans are still trying to wrap their feeble little brains around this beautiful power couple who are talented, accomplished and very much in love. The Obamas have so screwed with these people’s notions of so-called “black dysfunction” that has been fed to them by right-wing talk radio, television and a mass media that seems to thrive on negativity.
My contention is that black women need to stop allowing every bloody else to DEFINE who we are and to make us ashamed of who we are. We can’t even look deeper into what Ms. Kaplan was saying about American society’s obsession with body image and eurocentric standards of beauty without thinking it was an “attack”.
Here, here Kym.
Quite frankly, I’m getting a little tired of us as black people calling for change, realizing that an IMMEDIATE healing process is paramount in that effort but then, we show an apparent refusal to participate in said healing process.
This type of reaction to an article which may have been a little extreme in it’s comparisons to a Sarah Baartman or maybe relaxed in its overall presentation, is upsetting but also unfortunately, the norm.
I love black women and I do have an understanding of the pressures that they face…however I cannot stand behind ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE “that don’t clean their homes but have a problem when others say that their place is filthy”. That quote is from a person I admire very much and the meaning behind it is apparent, but not an insult. It’s a pure and SIMPLE truth.
1. For as long as I’ve known about the concept of a comedian, I’ve known that for the most part…no one is spared from a verbal onslaught. It doesn’t matter what race or creed the comic is because everyone and everything he/she deems ‘worthy’ becomes a target. But heaven forbid a DL Hughley piggyback on some nonsense from a talentless radio show host, and express his displeasure at the appearance of BLACK WOMEN in the midst of a basketball game. We suit up and get ready to fight. Black women actually GAVE those words power. All of my life I’ve thought we were smarter and stronger than that.
2. ANY WOMAN that is raped has been through perhaps the most dehumanizing and humiliating experiences life can offer. Many women would prefer death. Countless rape victims have their cases go unnoticed, underreported…etc. But heaven forbid a BLACK WOMAN in Florida be gang raped and subjected to a brutal set of circumstances that only the devil could dish out personally. It seems as if its not the crimes against ALL WOMEN that matter, but BLACK WOMEN.
3. Most of the ABSOLUTE WORST things I’ve heard said about black men specifically, have been uttered from the mouths of black women. But heaven forbid any black man say anything about black women that may prove to be distasteful, because we all know THAT cannot be tolerated.
4. Oprah Winfrey is unarguably the “first lady” of television. She’s accomplished, articulate, wealthy, commanding, educated, progressive and loved by many. All of these factors cannot be forgotten or “reduced” in any way when it is also said that she is a visually attractive woman that is very shapely with an emphasis on her rear end. Oh my goodness! What just happened? Did I just initiate the appocolypse BECAUSE I’VE STATED THE OBVIOUS?!! Will HARPO lawyers come after me because I’ve just defamed her image? Probably not.
So now, what is this thing about the Michelle Obama article? I’ve read it. I thought it was NOT meant to be a serious article. Though the comparisons drawn were admittedly a little extreme…were they enough to have the author labeled as the “handmaiden of misogyny”? Probably not. I had noticed M.O.’s shape before the article…and so what? I haven’t lowered myself just because I’m did something that heterosexual males tend to do. So why take such an offense just because Mrs. Obama is a physically attractive woman in addition to all of her other notable attributes and someone noticed (another black woman mind you) enough to write a filler article? Just a hunch…but I think that the President Elect has noticed her physical attributes and manages not to forget about the WOMAN attached to them.
My experience in the workplace is that if there happens to be a smart and articulate woman in the office and she is also attractive…its’ a plus! People take notice of one’s physicality. It’s part of ones presence!! People even work out for the very same reason. In addition, are BLACK WOMEN also saying that they cannot focus on the essentials if a man happens to be attractive? Women tend to notice everything in general more than us guys. You’re just less verbal.
One more point I’d like to make is that I grew up in the ’80s. During that time I saw just as many (if not more) white women with “enhancements” wearing s&m garb dancing from overhung cages in rock videos, as I see black women in g-strings dancing in rap videos today. In both cases the women involved were hired to play a role. Since these women were of legal age to work and make a decision to accept the position once offered, they’ve made a decision to OBJECTIFY THEMSELVES!
If a woman either appears in a music video or is hired to dance in a club in a provocative manner…how exactly does she feel that she will be seen by the men (especially the younger men) that she comes in contact with? This does not condone an ignorant point of view but definitely acknowledges that such viewpoints exist! As a person that exists on this earth you have the right to do many things. When you choose to do these things, good or bad, expect and accept the consequences.
Black Women have to clean up their own acts in so many different ways or there will be no change at all in your experience. You’ve always been strong, so you’ll always fight back no doubt. But I believe you’re fighting the wrong fight.
I’m not a troll. Just a guy speaking a little truth meaning no harm while at the same time, not willing to step on my tongue.
Hey Gina! I’m putting you on alert here! Let your sirens go off right about now!
This pbj sounds like the same ole FAMILIAR friendly face and definitely sounds like the kind of black man discussed on short documentaries like Black Woman Walking by Tracey Rose!
The wrong fight is any fight where a black woman isn’t licking out the colon of a black man through the posterior.
The DBRs like pbj could be carried on a sedan like the king in ‘The King and I’, be fanned, and fed peeled grapes by black women and they would still say black women are hard on them, aren’t doing enough, and they would still say that black women don’t deserve much better treatment than they receive!
LOL
There is no depth to what Ms. Kaplan wrote because THAT was just a peace of foolishness, and healing process?
How is there a healing process in the objectification of one normal black woman who was a lawyer and now a first lady whose image stands side by side with a current WHITE first lady who was a model and STILL is NOT objectified?
I like how blacks without passports or any kind of global view want to conveniently side-step that little piece of information because they don’t want to compare and see the truth.
Travel people, learn! Or at least catch BBC News somewhere! LOL
AK…perhaps you should holster the weapon an re-read my previous contribution. But before you do…since (ohh boy) you’ve resorted to name calling, what’s a DBR if you’ll forgive MY ignorance.
Oh, by the way, we already know about Intellius. I’ll just choose too respect your privacy.
But I just spelled it out for you up above!!……
pjb just apply for that passport, see the world, join the Peace Corps so that you can travel and volunteer whatever good use you do have.
And in these credit crunch times if money is too tight I understand, turn on some BBC America or PBS and catch some BBC World News.
PBJ:
Thank you for your comments, but I don’t really think you’re getting where I’m coming from. I think you see me as an ally where if you really thought about my stance, you’d be seriously “hating on me”.
You see, I’m all about black female EMPOWERMENT. I’m about wresting our physical, emotional and psychic/spiritual selves from over 200 years of oppression and patriarchy. I’m about black women looking out for themselves FIRST–because we seem to spend entirely TOO much time looking after others at the expense of our health and sanity. Shirley Chisholm said it best: “black women are a part of everyone else’s agenda but our own”.
Who are we? Black women today cannot answer that question, but you can bet practically members of every other ethnic/gender group has an answer.
We’ve run away from the idea of the “angry/strong black woman” because other people (including SOME black men) have made those terms to mean something negative. Personally, if black women stayed angry, there wouldn’t be any of the misogynistic thug/gangsta rap that is not only demeaning to black women, but to our community. You can bet that singers like Lyn Collins or Roberta Flack back in the 70’s wouldn’t have put up with some loser with fake teeth in his mouth talking about “pimps and hoes”. And DL Hughley saying that black women are “ugly” isn’t comedy–it’s a slap in the face to his wife, his mother, and every single black woman in the world. However, David Bowie obviously doesn’t think Iman’s a dog.
So my take on Kaplan’s article has more to do with viewing it from celebrating a woman of both intelligence AND beauty that does not conform to the limiting eurocentric ideal. I understand some of the ire from the posters who are offended, but my belief is that because black women feel this almost stifling need to be careful in how we present ourselves to the world, we limit ourselves. Yes, Oprah is beautiful, articulate, talented and graceful–but she also seems neutered–and therefore safe. Contrast her with Lil Kim, who represents everything society believes black women to be like.
Black women are stuck in the false dichotomy and it’s stifling. Everyone seems down and determined to define who we are BUT US.
I still can’t figure it out…I’m 62 and seen many first ladies; where in the world has simple respect gone. What is in the minds of anyone who will look to gain recognition on the back of our presidents wife…disgusting and embarrassing for all genuine women..
Dorothy from grammology
http://grammology.com
her butt is huge and she should do daily squats for that. her looks are average and the dress she wore on election night was putrid. I haven’t seen anything above normal in regards to her intelligence. lets see what four years in the white house does for her.
Lisa Winters, That was a truly nasty comment and coming from a woman no less. Why don’t you post a pic of your ass so we can compare? ( you may need to do a couple squats too) I find it amazing how some people can sit behind a computer and criticize others .
Kym…
In respect to your comments at the beginning of your last post, I re-read your contributions twice to make sure I had gotten a full grasp on what you were saying.
I don’t know why you THINK I’d be hating on you because you are in favor of Black Female empowerment. In addition, no disrespect to you but I couldn’t care less about gaining allies or enemies during this conversation or others that are similar.
Being a Black Man myself, I know a little about being or at least feeling oppressed. As for the patriarchal system in place…yes, I’m aware of it and can sympathize, but because of my gender, I cannot empathize. It is a struggle that can more clearly be approached in all aspects by women.
I’m about self empowerment. Believe me…that’s more important than any group movement. One of the most important factors regarding self empowerment is that if finger pointing is not warranted, refrain from doing it.
One thing that I most generously disagree with is the coupling of “angry” and “strong” to describe the black woman. It’s for a very logical reason though. If there was nothing left in this world that black women generally could be angry about, does it then cancel out their strength? The answer is a very bold “NO!!”. Therefore, I for one will never couple those two characteristics together as if black women absolutely have to be ANGRY and STRONG simultaneously. There are definitive catalysts that have made you “ANGRY”, but you are “STRONG” by design.
In addition to that, you mentioned gangsta rap being misogynistic. To an extent, I agree. A good portion of it is, while other parts of it don’t even make mention of women at all. Gangsta rap has MANY problems with it. misogyny being only a part:
The blatant focus on materialism,
Glorified violence,
Glorification of weaponry and being armed.
Glorification of drugs both sold and used,
Disrespect of elders,
The movement which makes it uncool to “snitch”,
Advocation of thievery,
Advocation of murder,
misogyny,
and all of the above being filtered to the children that listen to this music. However…
I’m not too far gone to realize that the people making this music are DEFINITELY and without logical argument, making music either based on what they’ve experienced and seen, or mimicking others that have come before them. In either case there is TRUTH connected with this music, and so there is a reason for it to exist. If one thinks about it clearly, one can see that if this kind of music was not made, there would be so many issues that have either been brought to light or have been made more clear of the extent to which they infect our communities, that would still be in the dark. I’ll never be angry that gangsta rap’s NEGATIVE ELEMENTS exist. I’m angry because they HAD TO EXIST.
As far as Mr. Hughley goes, what he said was unquestionably directed toward one specific group of women…the basketball team. Though it’s still should have warranted more thought in choosing his words, what he said was no more meant to be a commentary on ALL black women any more that when Joan Rivers calls Rod Stewart “ugly” is it a commentary on ALL white men. Which brings me to your comment on David Bowie and Iman. I have to assume that you may have brought him up because he’s a white man that obviously finds black women attractive and has married, loves and respects one in particular. This indirectly proves that you (as black women) have choices and don’t have to put up with any group of people that don’t respect you. I read that and laugh…but not for the reasons that one might immediately think. The FACT is, that there are so many men of many different races that absolutely adore black women, that bringing ONE up is not going to prove your point. It is laughable…do you think black men don’t know this? Do you feel this is new information? The answer is again “NO!!”. That information should be a given, just like the earth being round and black women constantly bringing up FACTS like that as if its breaking news, just proves one of the points you made in your last comment. You as black women, sadly, have no idea of just how much you are worth. So you tell me…if we as black men already know these things, but you’re bringing them up as if we don’t, then who really is out of touch?
I just realized while typing that this may be coming across a bit harshly. But I’m a guy that wants the petty bickering to stop and for BOTH SIDES to focus on the ROOTS of the problems, not the results.
There just seems to be a problem in recognizing reality like when you say that society believes Lil’ Kim represents everything they believe Black women to be. I don’t know any part of society, and I do mean any part, that considers Lil’ Kim to be the Class A standard benchmark for BLACK WOMEN. I’m almost prompted to ask if you and I live on separate earths.
If you spend time worrying about the results of a problem and are not willing to sever it AT THE ROOT, the problem will always exist in some fashion.
Sever from the root, THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE EMPOWERED!!!
Kymberlyn and Dorothy Stahlnecker both made some good points. I love Oprah and I don’t consider her to be neutered at all though. She’s just a popular rich entrpreneurial black woman who has a large fan and customer base of white women and she knows it.
But someone on this blog said a while ago, that when she watches Oprah she just can’t see why the topics of Oprah’s shows can’t be applied to black women at all.
I agree, so black women need to fly to Chicago and get on her show when they can and when they’re ready to and that’s all LOL!
I only care about My opinion first and THEN I’ll listen to the opinions of other BLACK WOMEN second.
I really don’t have the time or patience to consider black men’s opinions about anything especially anything regarding any woman. So no thanks to that.
When I want to read black men’s opinions, I’ll visit a blog that a black man started writing.
Exclusive: Erin Aubry Kaplan’s blog response takes on her critics and reveals the REAL reason she wrote the Michelle Obama Salon.com article:
http://threebrothersandasister.blogspot.com/2008/11/exclusive-first-ladys-got-back-author.html
I believe the writing in the original salon article was passive aggressive towards Michelle Obama. The author objectified the First Lady with bizarre, over-the-top glee. Then the author attempted to shield or insulate herself from accountability from the article’s disrespectful tone by assuring the reader that she shared Michelle Obama’s body shape and race. Older folk who raised me had a saying, “All my skinfolk are not my kinfolk.”
I read through this thread and noticed the name Kevin Ross offering repeated defense of Kaplan’s article. Also, I followed the link to Kaplan’s follow-up in response to the response she received to the original article.
It appears Kaplan took time to reflect on the reprimands and scolding she received from her readership. Her follow-up article actually accomplishes what her original article did not.
The follow-up offers a measured, thoughtful, insightful perspective of what Michelle Obama’s ascendance to First Lady means to the author. The follow-up portrays the First Lady as a human being worthy of the respect she has earned around the world and here at home. Then the author describes why she is offering that respect after having taken the time to consider the reasons why since her editor at salon failed the author by settling or perhaps even requesting a shallow perspective on the First Lady.
While Kaplan still remains slightly defensive, I believe she has come to understand that Michelle Obama is not someone she can treat lightly. Also, that if Kaplan herself is to receive respect from her readership, she too will have to earn it by taking her writing much more seriously regardless of her editor’s allowances or demands.
Let’s all continue to watch and read Kaplan’s work and hope that she continues to raise her expectations of herself and the power of her pen.
Good luck!
This article directly reflects the high volume of irrelevant, negative substance within the mind of its author.
An elevation of consciousness will make The United States, and The World a better place.
Imagine a life where our every observation encouraged, empowered, enlightened, and uplifted our fellow brothers and sisters.
Imagine a life where everyone understood the truth, and loved everyone else AS their brothers and sisters.
Why imagine? Create it now.
Leave a Comment