There. You clicked it. The rest of this column doesn’t even matter.
But while I have you here, I might as well explain myself. No, I don’t think Politico Magazine (Politico’s newest venture, which launched earlier this month) is actually a “feminist nightmare.” But we need to talk about their recent cover story, “Leaning Out: How Michelle Obama became a feminist nightmare“.
The article, taken as a whole, is a fairly reasonable look at Michelle Obama’s time as First Lady: her accomplishments, her image, and her critics. It correctly points out that Michelle Obama hasn’t taken on the controversial issues. She didn’t write the nuclear deal with Iran. She’s focused on topics like vegetables and education, platforms that basically everyone can get behind. And some people (some of whom are feminists) are frustrated that she hasn’t used her position to advocate for heavier topics.
But a well-reasoned article about the uncontroversial accomplishments of the First Lady wouldn’t generate nearly as much buzz as you need to in today’s over-saturated media landscape. And thus, Michelle Obama the feminist nightmare was born.
The feminist arguments cited against Michelle Obama are flimsy at best. Emily Bazelon at Slate once wondered aloud why the First Lady hadn’t gone out of her way to recognize single mothers in her 2012 convention speech – which, while a great question, isn’t exactly the stuff of Gloria Steinem’s night terrors. Keli Goff at the Root recently expressed hope that Michelle Obama would be less docile in her husband’s second term, but her criticism was directed more at the political process (and the social pressures of being a black woman) than at the First Lady herself. The Politico Magazine article scrapes together these sources to try to portray some kind of angry feminist mob breaking down the White House’s front door.
Naturally, it hasn’t worked. Feminists all over the internet have checked in to say, “No, sorry, I’ve never had any nightmares about Michelle Obama” (much to Michelle’s relief, I’m sure). The fact is, Michelle Obama’s decision to let her husband’s career take center stage makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that her husband is the leader of the free world. And in any case, modern feminism is more about letting women make their own choices than pushing them into roles they don’t want to take.
But in the world of online journalism, headlines lead to shares and clicks, clicks lead to eyeballs, and eyeballs lead to advertisers. That’s why Upworthy, which has been called “the fastest growing media site of all time” uses headlines like “They Did It 86 Times To Every Other President Combined. 82 Times To Obama Alone” and “Can You Believe Coke And Pepsi Are Desperate Enough To Stoop So Low?” I dare you not to click on either of those links. The curiosity is killing you right now. What did they do to Obama? 82 times??
Declaring that “All X hate Y” is a pretty straightforward way to stir up some fake controversy, and it seems like feminists are especially vulnerable (perhaps because we don’t have an obvious figurehead to consult on these kinds of issues). In recent memory, feminists have been accused of hating:
- Miley Cyrus,
- Drinking,
- Fairy tales,
- Sarah Palin,
- “Cougar Town,”
- Taylor Swift,
- and now Michelle Obama.
And that’s just the tip of the iceburg. Clearly, not all feminists hate all of these things. I mean, I identify as a feminist, and I love at least three of them.
So why is the internet so intent on telling me what to hate? Because it generates buzz. Quoting one or two feminists who both dislike something is an easy (and lazy) way to start a fight and get people to care about your otherwise uncontroversial article.
Of course, it also reinforces the idea that feminists (and others — feminists definitely aren’t the only victims of this irritating media trend) go around hating things as though it gives us a weird thrill. In my very personal opinion, it would be cool if we feminists could try to discourage the killjoy reputation we’ve landed, so I’d really like to see fewer of these “Breaking News: Feminists Hate Spaghetti” articles. But I’ll acknowledge that isn’t the opinion of feminists everywhere.
All I can say now is this: friends, try not to fall for these transparently sensationalist tactics. They’re as old as the media itself, and the internet has only made them bolder. Luckily, our generation already knows you can’t believe everything you read in a Buzzfeed (or Politico) headline.
P.S. If you’re on Twitter, follow @UpworthySpoiler and @HuffPoSpoilers. They’re hilarious, point out exactly the problem I’m talking about, and will save you a lot of time.