After her husband became the first black president of the US on Nov. 4, Michelle Obama made "the power statement of her political career" earlier this week when she... wore a red dress to the White House. What's more, that statement was apparently that she is "powerful but not threatening."
Yeah, they went there.
It's probably true that at this time, in this campaign, Barack Obama winning the presidency was the most important goal. And the article does pay lip service to the fact that double standards that make it necessary to "soften" smart (and black, but they don't say that ) women are unfair.
But if that's so, then why does this article claim that making "The Dress her uniform" is the most important message we've gotten from her? Why is her "power statement" supposedly that she is "too feminine" and "sexy" to be "sitting in on cabinet meetings"? That's not power, sounds more like subordination.
Michelle Obama has made, and will continue to make, incredibly powerful and important statements. And they have nothing to do with dresses or being "too feminine" to do anything.
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Oh thank goodness the Black First Lady isn't going to be "threatening"! *sigh*
I am so glad I wasn't the only one who saw this and thought WTF.
I am so glad this was posted, I mean seriously Huffpo, WTF?
"First Husband Makes Power Statement by Wearing Dress"
Now that would be a headline…
Whenever I see articles examining Michelle Obama's dress it really baffles me. Why is this news? Why does anyone care? (I'm not talking about articles here on feministing, but rather the news coverage on this subject). It is really disappointing to see all of this media coverage discussing what she was wearing rather than something, anything, more important.
God, does she ever look fabulous in that red dress (sorry ... I have a not-so-little crush on Michelle).
But ... man that article. "and too ambitious."
Really? Sigh. I won't even copy-pasta anything else, because I'd just copy-pasta the entire article.
Right? Right? She looks fabulous and that's what they are scared of.
The fact that she is smart is of course forgotten. Sad.
I don't think that dress makes her look nonthreatening-- it's bold, it shows that she has a ton of confidence, and isn't going to water down her style (whether clothing or personality) to appear more palatable. She sure as shit ain't Laura Bush. ;)
All hail the glorious Communist fashionista dictatorship of the proletariat! Hammer-and-sickle-patterned dashikis for all God-fearing white children!
I hate the way that they have been treating Michelle Obama. What she wears is pretty much the only news you get about her except that she has two children. She's a lawyer for crying out loud! I want to hear more about her actual person with opinions and ideas than her as a barbie doll.
So true, Suzy. Either she's a Barbie doll or an "angry black woman." It makes me sick to my stomach. :P
Will, I look up michelle resume and here is what I learn:
Michelle was already a lawyer at the law firm, when she meet Barack the intern. Barak the intern was trying to put some moves on her, but she was not interested because she was in a higher position (she was the lawyer, obama was the intern)than obama. Finally she agrees to date him. She was already a strong, independent woman on her own before she meet Barack.
That compare to Laura, who was a librarian (I am not mocking her for that) for a 1 year or two before leave her job to be a housewife after a 3 month romance at the age of 30.
when Obama was a senator, she was in charge of some hospital administration as a lawyer. She made 200,000 a year compare to Obama, who make 150,000 a year. She made more money than Obama.
After she left the law firm where she meet Obama, she use to be a fundraiser for the firm. Many of the fundraiser set high amount of money, and there are still left over fundraiser money today at the firm.
Michelle made 115,526 more than Obama. She is a beautiful, intelligent, strong, independent woman and could be the next Hillary Clinton. She do not need Obama to make a living, she is capable of doing it on her own. She makes all these money and she only works part time.
During the campaign trails, she only allowed Sasha and malia to appear on stage if there is not school. Michelle thought that Sasha and malia education was more important than appearing on the campaign trail compare to the palin children, who went everywhere with her and miss two whole months of school.
Todd was a stay at home dad, and instead of being a responsible stay at home dad and taking his two daughters to school, taking care of twig, and being there for Bristol during her pregnancy, he went with Sarah to every campaign. More than that, Todd, Bristol, and the son in law is all high school dropout while the eldest son is in the military because of very bad behavior during high school.
Here it is: According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while he had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, plus investments and royalties from his books.[39]
Michelle Obama is a tall lady. Why can't she prefer dresses because they are easier to fit than pants? Or maybe she actually likes dresses? Why should it matter what she wears? Someday, a woman will be judged by her brains, and not the shoes on her feet or the dress on her body.
http://www.sirensmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=286&Itemid=5
Did anyone read this article? It was linked to at the bottom of the page. I'm glad it mentions her other attributes, such as that she's smart. But it still says that women should like her because she's fashionable. Because, of course, women would never like a woman who isn't fashionable.
The role of First Lady in our country makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I'm not sure why exactly, it's a combination of things - the woman only gets the post because her HUSBAND was elected, she has to do all this stupid work picking out flower arrangements and pushing completely uncontroversial issues such as education or literacy and she doesn't even get paid for it, and she's not allowed to be too threatening or assertive or - God forbid - opinionated. It's this awful vestige of patriarchal society that's probably not going to go away anytime even remotely soon, and I HATE it.
I hate it too. Michelle Obama is brilliant and President Obama would be lucky to have her working in his administration, just as President Clinton was lucky to have someone as qualified and talented as Hillary Clinton working with him.
If the President had a best friend that he'd known since college who worked with him on his campaign, we'd probably EXPECT that the best friend would get a good position in the new administration, and we would expect that he'd have a lot of influence on the President's opinions. Yet when it's the President's wife, everyone gets freaked out about how much influence she could have and whining about how SHE wasn't the one who was elected.
Everyone expects Michelle Obama to now play the quiet, supportive (deferent) housewife. I hope she defies everyone's expectations.
Um. I don't know much about US political roles, but... does she get to keep her job/career or does she have to give that up too?
I hope she isn't limited to the "feminine" issues of education and literacy (feminine because they're all think-about-their-children, woman = mother = caregiver), maybe she could show the country that mothers can be pro-choice, and straight, married women can be pro-LGBT rights, and all that? Fingers crossed.
I heart Michelle Obama. She is my role model.
"There's something about a woman in a suit that American men and women still find intimidating. A suit strikes them as too cold, too impersonal, and too ambitious."
This country is freaking crazy. Why can't I, or Michelle Obama or ANY WOMEN wear anything without there being a need for societal interpretation?
I found that quote SO insulting!
and yeah, my clothes are not there to send a message to the world. i have a voice for that.
My word, this article was absolutely ridiculous. I'm bummed even more that is was ritten by a woman. Right, so if we dress in a suit we're "too cold, too impersonal, and too ambitious". Too ambitious!!? So, there is actually a limit now on how ambitious a woman should be? And the way we can tell if we've crossed the line is by what we wear. Wowzer.
Although the author said that the above is unfair, she went on to say that Mrs. Obama "realized that it wasn't worth fighting the battle of the working woman's perception while her husband needed to win the battle for president. It wasn't worth the distraction." Yep, I'm sure that's just what Michelle was thinking to herself. What kind of paraphrasing, assumptive crap-ola is that!?
Maybe the case really is that it's time to make REAL changes in working women's rights- and we can wear whatever we feel like it as long as the job actually gets done this time.
I think often folks with the best intentions simply don't often truly see the deeply ingrained, sexist patterns which their words may be perpetuating.