Is Michelle Obama's "Ass" Off Limits?

from Vibe.com

CRITICAL NOIR
Is Michelle Obama's "Ass" Off-Limits?
by Mark Anthony Neal

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...

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