A sad week for Rihanna, Michelle Obama and all black women

Posted by Zanele Mji on Dec 23, 2011 in body politics | 2 comments

Rihanna and Michelle Obama don’t have much in common.  They may share celebrated status as  fashion icons, but even the styles that earned them that status are vastly different.  Other than that, there’s almost no grounds on which the two women could be compared.  That was until the events of this past week unfolded, and we were reminded that no woman is exempt from unsolicited references to her body and appearance, and when that woman is black the comment will almost always have something to do with her behind.

Even when that woman is Michelle Obama, lawyer, humanitarian and First Lady of the United States.  I mention her pursuits because they are in no way dependant nor related to her weight or body shape, yet a Republican Congressmen still found it appropriate to refer in public  to her “large posterior” as a discredit to her ability to successfully lead her “Let’s move!” national fitness campaign for kids.

And though Rihanna’s image and line of work means that she’s probably more used to public discussion of her butt, she took on the editor of Dutch magazine Jackie after they ran an article that referred to her ‘ghetto a**’ and repeatedly used the N- and B- words  to describe her.

It’s a particular type of racism that fueled the comments in both instances.  It’s fixated on the bodies of black women, and fetishizes their shape.  Though J.Lo, Beyonce and co.’s anthems to bootyliciousness have somewhat enhanced the public profile of curvaceousness and appear to have recast it as something to celebrate; the problem is that black women’s butts are still a spectacle to be fixated upon and discussed.  The subtext and symbolism remains; the behind is the marker of exoticness, or ghettoness or any other stereotypes that latent racism perpetuates.

In these instances there was in fact nothing latent or subtle about the vicious comments made.  Rihanna was just as forthright in her response on Twitter, and the editor of Jackie has since resigned.  Though there’s been no comment from the First Lady the Congressman is said to have sent her a personal apology.  And while the two attackers are no doubt sorry – that they said it out loud or even just that they were heard – that’s the thing about saying awful things isn’t it? They can’t be unsaid.  And more importantly they point to a bigger problem; the fact that you thought to say it in the first place.