Actual Poll

Currently running at Fauxgressive Central HuffPo, to which I'm not going to link, but it's easy enough to find if you're so inclined:

If you can't view the image, it reads: "Does Michelle Obama have the right to bare legs?" followed by three choices: 1. Absolutely! It's so modern. 2. No way. It's inappropriate for a First Lady. 3. It's not the end of the world, but maybe she should wear longer shorts next time.

For the record, here is an image of First Lady Michelle Obama wearing her controversial shorts while on a family holiday earlier this week:


ZOMG scandalous!!! She looks—gasp!—like pretty much every single middle-aged mom in summer clothes I've seen in my entire bleedin' life.

If you happen to be thinking, "You know, something about this strikes me as a little fucking misogynist and racist," give yourself 1,000 points—because the entire commentary surrounding whether Michelle Obama should be wearing shorts and at what length is just another infuriating iteration of the policing of female bodies of color, which is inevitably and inextricably associated with narratives about sexuality, sexual servitude, and economic class.

That's why, instead of taking a look at a picture like the one above and not even thinking twice about it, the HuffPo has to run a goddamned poll that might as well be substituted with a video of Andy Rooney pooping his pants and worriedly exclaiming: "I can hardly tell if that's the First Lady or a dirty, dirty whore soliciting smack for blowjobs on Santa Monica Boulevard!"

Trying to obfuscate that reality with polite-sounding horseshit like "It's inappropriate for a First Lady" and "Maybe she should wear longer shorts next time" is just wretched cowardice, a pitiful attempt to distance themselves from their tiresome policing of Michelle Obama's body.

[H/T to Shaker Kathy.]