Depends on the part of Florida - western panhandle is southern. It becomes less and less southern ironically enough the further south you go. Also, living in Florida does not make one a Floridian/southerner. MANY residents are in fact refugees from the Snow Belt. I lived in Niceville and Melbourne for a big ol' hunk of my childhood. Native Floridians are a rare breed - our op says she was born in the north although raised in FL.

Even now, "Southern Belle" is code for wealthy white woman, whether or not we want to admit it. "The Southern Belle Primer" is meant to be satire, and can be a good one or two-time read, but it's very thinly veiled classism.

By limiting femininity to wealth and race, the "Southern Belle" label leaves out those women who don't know what to do at a white tie event. (I'm thinking of Celia Foote from "The Help," who would have known what to wear at a hog killing). It's allowed women to pass judgement on other women who don't come from the same privileged backgrounds, all in the name of "being proper." It was bestowed on white women who had the fortune to be born into a wealthy family and the means to marry into another wealthy one--a woman who's always had the means to volunteer without working, to be part of a sorority when even college was nearly impossible for most women, and a woman who didn't have to take care of their own home. No more, no less.

I've often wondered if the obsession with SEC rush I see here on GC is an outgrowth of that. They're concerned with the women whom a very small part of society deems properly feminine.

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I am a Native Floridian (6 generations on one side!), and where I grew up is certainly the South: for better and for worse.

right there with you! woop woop

i am also a florida native. we can trace my people back 8 generations in northern florida.

to the op, i know plenty of people living in your area who can also trace their florida lineage back multiple generations, although we have plenty of transplants too. and florida/the south does not have a monopoly on pickup trucks emblazoned with confederate flags-i have seen them waaaaaay up north. ignorance is everywhere.

I don't know that "concern" is the word - more that it's so surreal for the majority of people that they like hearing about it, the same way people watch My Super Sweet 16 and shows like that. It's not something that will ever happen in your life.

I mean I like reading and talking about it (just like I occasionally watch MSSS) but I know I would not last 2.5 seconds in one of those rush parties, let alone being in one of the chapters. :p We have chapters that are plenty "Southern" enough for my taste without even being in the SEC.

That makes me sad...

Repping DG debs right here! And I agree with almost every single post on this thread. I don't think I've laughed so hard all day. :)

bum