Michelle Obama’s biceps and bangs

Michelle Obama, Harvard and Princeton-educated lawyer and social activist, celebrates her 50th birthday today. What an interesting life she must have had so far. From humble beginnings in Chicago, as the cliche goes, to life in the White House as the wife of the most powerful politician in the world. The things she must have experienced, the knowledge and expertise she must have accumulated.

If I were a journalist preparing for the opportunity to interview her, I would have researched her opinions and areas of interest in terms of policy. I would want to know what she thinks about domestic policies relating to poverty, social inequality and how her initiative to get people moving and eating more healthfully is proceeding.

Yet today, on her birthday, I know more about her hairstyle, her workout regime, what she likes to eat and where she goes with her “girlfriends”. This knowledge is courtesy of the New York Times.

Let’s try a little experiment I like to do, a substitution exercise. Imagine that this article is written about a male Harvard-educated lawyer who has worked for a major hospital and is involved in a national domestic policy campaign, and who is married to an extremely powerful woman. (I am quoting from the New York Times article.)

In hairstyle news, the bangs of 2013 are gone, replaced by a traditional first lady wave. As Mrs. Obama told the TV chef Rachael Ray last year: “This is my midlife crisis, the bangs. I couldn’t get a sports car. They won’t let me bungee jump. So instead, I cut my bangs.”

She has perfected a mean forehand, is working on her yoga poses, dishes with girlfriends over brussels sprouts and dirty martinis (one olive) at the Mediterranean hotspot Zaytinya, pushes her two daughters to play two sports — one of her choosing and one of theirs — and said this week that the wonders of modern dermatology, like Botox, are in the realm of possibility for her.

Michelle Obama is in many ways the embodiment of the contemporary, urban, well-heeled middle-aged American woman. She likes to take “me time,” as she did during an extra vacation week this month without family in Hawaii, setting off a tabloid furor over the state of her marriage. She frets that her older daughter, 15-year-old Malia, hangs out with the boys a grade above her. She gardens, although unlike the rest of us, she has significant weeding help.

She toys with false eyelashes.

Can you imagine this being written about a man, let alone such an educated and powerful man?

Even more egregious, the journalist is female.

I understand that the topics Mrs. Obama chooses to discuss are heavily dictated by advisors and the President himself. I also understand that she is not the one in charge and that she must shy away from anything controversial. But can we move away from such infantilizing, marginalizing and condescending characterizations? Would we ever care about a man’s grooming habits or workout?

Perhaps this type of story is more suitable for People magazine, which was granted the opportunity to interview the First Lady on the occasion of her birthday. Here is the article, in which we again learn about her workout regime, as well as her thoughts on Botox and menopause.

It is disheartening that women are still reduced to beings who are accessories to powerful men and preoccupy themselves mainly with domestic duties and their appearance. I give the New York Times journalist the benefit of the doubt, however. She probably did not have much control over the interview and one does not turn down this kind of access. So this article speaks more to the way in which women are still perceived and portrayed in the media, even a woman such as Michelle Obama, who is more well-known for her hairstyle changes and biceps than her law degree or her opinions.