These pictures are just Bombay. Imagine what the country looks like.

And nobody’s ‘asking’ for a competition between Michelle and Melania, but there is definitely a double standard in terms of how white women and black women are viewed and treated by people. Melania gets the presumption of innocence and is seen as a victim almost immediately, and while I’m sure that she definitely doesn’t have a healthy marriage with Donald Trump, there’s really been very little to indicate that she doesn’t share at least some of his racism (she was pretty vocal about supporting the birther conspiracy when it came to Obama). Meanwhile, Michelle Obama and black women in general have to go out of their way to conform to certain notions of femininity, to appear non-threatening, and even with that, they aren’t given anywhere near the benefit of the doubt that Melania gets from the media and people at large. I don’t think anybody’s invoking a competition as much as they’re trying to point out this double standard.

I don’t think anyone’s stepping on Melania Trump in order to defend Michelle Obama. Melania’s clearly married to a man with a history of domestic abuse, who has likely also abused her, and who definitely has the means and the gumption to go after her if she were to divorce him or leave the marriage in any way. All of these facts are true, and she deserves sympathy on that front, but I don’t think it’s wrong to point out the media coverage that she’s getting for this and the way people have immediately rushed to defend her, even as they quibble about whether or not the racist vitriol and harassment that Michelle Obama (and black women in general for that matter) face is actually a real thing. This doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t feel sympathetic for Melania, or that she deserves that abuse, or even that the scale of the coverage is wrong. It’s just that this is yet another example where the experiences of white women vs. women of colour are treated in completely different ways and with different levels of sympathy. And a lot of that has to do with how people view white women vs. black women, especially when they are victims.

That’s what I mean when I said that she definitely faces xenophobia from people at large, but I don’t think it’s true that Republicans agree about her not fitting the First Lady image. Plenty of people have come out and stated that they’re glad she’s First Lady now because she’s going to “bring back some class” to the White House, and made some pretty reprehensible comments about Michelle Obama in the process. Melania fits enough of the criteria to be First Lady for them, and I don’t think she has faced the same level of dehumanization from the Republicans so far.

What was up with misquoting me though? Because I never implied in any way that this kind of things shouldn’t be talked about or that this conversation shouldn’t happen, but it’s missing the point to like mention Malaysia out of the blue (or any other country) when the post was clearly centered on a Western context. Honestly, re-read my reply because I addressed all you’re saying already and that’s what the OP was saying too. If you are not a person with public exposure, banking on your “Muslim-ness” or on your Muslim background, to promote islamophobic and imperial policies then you’re not a native informant. Considering what is at stake, it’s totally legitimate to put into question the identity of ex-muslim. I could speak about my own experience too, you aren’t the only ones who have struggled with their religion at one point or another, that still doesn’t change the fact that it is irrelevant because that was about how US/Western imperialism is fed into here in the first place.

thanks!!!!

thank you :)