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In a recent interview with TIME magazine, US President, Barack Obama was asked to comment on multiracial families, women’s body image, affirmative action and growing up black in America.
He was sharing a table with Prima Ballerina Misty Copeland, the first African American to be named the principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater. She has been breaking barriers in the ballet world with her athletic body type.
In the interview, Obama said that it was the likes of Copeland and wife Michelle that were acting as role models for his daughters as they learn the pressures women face today to ‘look a certain way’.
His words:
‘That pressure I think is historically always been harder on African American women than just about any other women,’ he said.
‘But it’s part and parcel of a broader way in which we socialize and press women to constantly doubt themselves or define themselves in terms of a certain appearance.’
‘And so Michelle and I are always guarding against that. And the fact that they’ve got a tall gorgeous mom who has some curves, and that their father appreciates, I think is helpful,’