Southern belles?

[JDCookMS]

A lot of them are Tri Delts, KD's or Chi O's, but you have to take in consideration that those are the 3 largest/most powerful sororities here at USM.

[AnchorAlumna]

White? I've known some AA women who are just as much a Southern belle.
A Southern belle knows what to do at a white-tie-and-tails event and at a hog killin' and how to dress properly for both.

[AGDLynn]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

A Southern belle knows what to do at a white-tie-and-tails event and at a hog killin' and how to dress properly for both.

Why, goodness sakes alive, yes!

[PandaPrincess]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

White? I've known some AA women who are just as much a Southern belle.
A Southern belle knows what to do at a white-tie-and-tails event and at a hog killin' and how to dress properly for both.

HAHAHAHA! That's amazing!!!!


Thanks to everyone for a great info and reading suggestions! My fascination with this subject is that I live in what I consider to be "southern limbo". There isn't a lot of deep south tradition or heritage (that I know of) down here in the Tampa Bay area because almost everyone is a transplant from the Northeast (or REALLLLLY old! Usually both...). However, it's southern enough that seeing trucks with confederate flags and decals of cartoon characters urinating on rival sports teams is a common occurrence.

[KD4Me]

Originally Posted by PandaPrincess

confederate flags and decals of cartoon characters urinating on rival sports teams is a common occurrence.

does NOT = southern

Get a subscription to Southern Living.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

/since the OP is from "the north" and needs to know the variance in how people define and feel about "southern belle" as to avoid turning into the Sex and the City episode where Carrie met a woman from further down south at the bar who wore a scrunchie.

Psst...the OP is from Florida. According to the last map I looked at, that's kinda not north. In fact it's kinda southish...geographicly, not culturally.

[SWTXBelle]

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.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Historically, however, southern belle was not used in reference to nonwhite and nonupper class women. In the average southern setting, people will still only use southern belle in reference to white women of a higher social class. An example is the posting of southern debunantes and the NPC sorority memberships.

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.

----

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

[thetaj]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

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

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

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.

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. We have chapters that are plenty "Southern" enough for my taste without even being in the SEC.