Read The Articles On Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, And Ca ✓ Solved

Read the articles on Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, and Ca

Read the articles on Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, and Caster Semenya. Watch the Life and Times of Sarah Baartman documentary.

Write a reflection of words on the similarities and/or differences in the manner in which Sarah Baartman, Michelle Obama, Caster Semenya, and Serena Williams have been described/talked about in public space.

Please note that you are required to have at least two sources with APA citation style given in-text (within your discussion), plus full citations at the bottom of your posted discussion. You are free to cite any other sources, including the sources assigned for this assignment readings. You will lose points if you do not follow the APA citation style.

Paper For Above Instructions

The public descriptions of Sarah Baartman, Michelle Obama, Caster Semenya, and Serena Williams reveal a persistent pattern in modern discourse: the body becomes a site where race, gender, sexuality, and ability are contested, policed, and narrativized in ways that reinforce power structures. Across historical moments, these descriptions oscillate between objectification and admiration, suspicion and celebration, often depending on who is being described, what the descriptor seeks to accomplish, and which social norms are being invoked. An analytic lens anchored in established theories of representation, gaze, and intersectionality helps illuminate these dynamics and reveals how public space functions as a conveyor belt for stereotypes and social scripts that shape collective understanding.

First, Sarah Baartman’s body has historically been subjected to racialized and gendered surveillance in ways that activated the “gaze” described by Foucault and elaborated in cultural theory. Her body was rendered as evidence in so-called scientific discourses that objectified Black female bodies and used anatomy to anchor racial hierarchies (Foucault, 1976). The result was a double process: Baartman was dehumanized in life and then fictionalized posthumously as the emblematic figure of colonial exploitation. This pattern aligns with Du Bois’s notion of double consciousness, in which Black subjects navigate conflicting self-presentations arising from dominant gaze and internal self-awareness (Du Bois, 1903). Early colonial discourse, as well as later media representations, tended to reduce Baartman to a symbol—the so-called Hottentot Venus—thereby overshadowing her personhood and agency. Contemporary analyses of Baartman’s case continue to foreground the ethics of representation and the harms of turning real people into symbols for others’ theories or curiosity (Goffman, 1963; Hall, 1997; Crenshaw, 1989). (Foucault, 1976; Du Bois, 1903; Hall, 1997; Goffman, 1963; Crenshaw, 1989).

Michelle Obama’s public reception, by contrast, sits largely within modern discourses that simultaneously celebrate achievement and police gendered comportment. Her memoir or public appearances offer a counter-narrative to the stereotype that Black women in leadership must perform femininity in narrowly defined ways. The public discourse around her often engages with ideas of grace, leadership, motherhood, and political engagement—yet it still traverses a terrain where the Black woman body and voice are scrutinized for “authenticity” and “fitness to lead.” This mirrored tension—praise paired with scrutiny—reflects broader media practices described in representation theory, where media constructs can both humanize and constrain public figures depending on the political climate and audience. The reader/viewer’s interpretation is shaped by the same structural concerns that Bhabha describes as negotiation with the Other and the global circulation of stereotypes (Bhabha, 1994). In analyzing Obama’s public image, scholars and critics often note a careful balance of empowerment rhetoric with expectations about gendered roles, motherhood, and national belonging (Obama, 2018). (Foucault, 1976; Hall, 1997; Bhabha, 1994; Obama, 2018).

Serena Williams and Caster Semenya illuminate how gender and sexuality intersect with race in highly visible, high-stakes arenas—sports and media. Williams’s public reception has included critiques of her demeanor, body, and success, with some discourse framed through gender norms that police “acceptable feminine behavior.” This echoes Hall’s arguments about representation and how media can discipline identity through recurrent themes; bell hooks’s critique of “Black Looks” emphasizes how Black female bodies are read through racialized lenses that link physicality to moral judgments (hooks, 1992). In the rhetoric that surrounds Williams, the body becomes a canvas on which questions of temperament, athletic prowess, and gendered expectations are inscribed. Meanwhile Semenya’s case foregrounds heavily juridical and medical discourses about gender categories, testosterone levels, and the policing of boundaries between male and female athletic competition. These debates illustrate Butler’s theory of gender performativity—gender as a set of social performances rather than an essential category—and Crenshaw’s insistence on intersectionality, showing how race, gender, and bodily difference co-constitute public narratives that justify exclusionary practices (Butler, 1990; Crenshaw, 1989). Foucault’s notion of regulatory power and the gaze is also useful here: the sports governing bodies, media, and public discourse act as a panoptic mechanism, normalizing certain bodies while pathologizing others (Foucault, 1976). (Hall, 1997; hooks, 1992; Butler, 1990; Crenshaw, 1989; Foucault, 1976).

Across these figures, the similarities are evident: the public space tends to codify bodies into legible scripts—readable as either exemplary or threatening—depending on the social context and stakes. The differences matter too. Baartman’s case is anchored in the historical project of empire and scientific racism, where the body is a political instrument of control. Williams and Semenya inhabit a modern media environment where digital traces, branding, sponsorship, and fan engagement complicate the narratives around gender, sexuality, and athletic performance. In Obama’s case, leadership and public persona are mediated through a mainstream political-cultural framework that seeks to normalize a Black woman’s ascent into the echelons of power, though not without persistent critique from traditionalist or racially anxious segments of society. Theoretical frameworks such as representation (Hall, 1997) and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) help us understand how these cases both converge and diverge under shifting social norms while still exposing the fragility of subjectivity within public discourse (Goffman, 1963; Du Bois, 1903; Bhabha, 1994).

To move beyond mere description, it is crucial to examine not only how these bodies are talked about but why certain descriptions persist. The gaze that objectifies Baartman is a colonial relic transplanted into modern commentary about female power in Michelle Obama and female athletic prowess in Serena Williams and Caster Semenya. The persistence of racialized scripts in public talk about Black women—whether celebrated or criticized—indicates the durable power of historical stereotypes. Recognizing these patterns invites a more critical mode of interpretation and a push toward public discourse that foregrounds individuals’ humanity over extractive or sensationalized narratives. This approach aligns with the broader project of deconstructing harmful representations and imagining more humane, rights-based frameworks for discussing body, race, gender, and ability in public life. (Foucault, 1976; Hall, 1997; Crenshaw, 1989; Butler, 1990; hooks, 1992; Goffman, 1963; Du Bois, 1903; Bhabha, 1994; Obama, 2018; Maseko, 2009).

References

1. Obama, M. (2018). Becoming. Crown.
2. Maseko, Z. (Director). (2009). The Life and Times of Sara Baartman [Film]. South Africa: Maseko Films.
3. Foucault, M. (1976). The History of Sexuality, Volume I. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
4. Hall, S. (1997). Representation. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
5. Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139-167.
6. Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York, NY: Routledge.
7. hooks, bell. (1992). Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End Press.
8. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
9. Du Bois, W. E. B. (1903). The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago, IL: A. C. McClurg & Co.
10. Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London, UK: Routledge.