I was just looking at the thread on handkissing when I started thinking at the belles at my school. As you can see from my location, I live in Alabama and go to a large public school. Overall, it’s a surprisingly good public school. [brag]We have IB and AP classes, jazz bands, chamber choir, and students go to some of the best colleges in the nation (just this year: Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, MIT, etc.)[/brag]
My point being that this is not some backwards country school. There are surprisingly few vestiges of the south here, but one of them is the [school name here] Belles. Sophomores try out to become Belles, then they have dresses and hats made that are straight from the antebellum south. According to the sponsor, they do community service and act as hostesses for our school. I think it’s strange and a little demeaning (considering the time period), so I was wondering how others perceived it. Do you think it’s offensive, weird, or perfectly fine? (other reactions not listed are also acceptable ;))
I don’t see it as any worse/wierder than belonging to the Society for Creative Anachronism (aren’t those the ones who do those medievel fairs & whatnot) or being a Civil War re-enactor. At least they’re doing community service while they dress up like Scarlett O’Hara.
As a kid I was always fascinated with antebellum fashions, Azure, to the point that I would have loved nothing more than becoming such a thing in highschool.
Girls love dressing up. I see nothing wrong with dressing up like Scarlett O’Hara; just because she had slaves doesn’t mean she didn’t wear big fun hoop skirts, or that one has anything to do with the other.
Just about any previous time period has potentially offensive ideas/practices attached to it; that doesn’t mean you can’t learn about it and recreate the look of that era without unearthing those offensive ideas.
I don’t have a problem with it. Although I wouldn’t participate–I can’t stand it when people look at me as a dainty, proper little lady–I can understand how dressing up could be fun to some people. The only time it would be weird (and borderline offensive) would be when the girls in question are little five- and six-year-olds, or even younger, being paraded across a stage in poofy dresses, wigs, and ten layers of makeup.
I think it looks neat. I wouldn’t consider it weird, unless they were going to class in that. They seem to be trying to emphasize the better parts of the south (hospitality) while there’s no mention of some of the more, um, negative sides. Dressing up and doing community service? Sure!
Well, I’m glad we southerners aren’t being seen as weird, anyway! I guess I’ve never seen the point of recreating the past, as in Civil War and World War I reenactments. I like dressing up, but I guess I have a visceral reaction to this particular time period. To each his own.
The only thing I find weird is that you have to try out for it. What are the requirements? Is it a beauty/personality thing, or is it more a public speaking and presentation thing?
Not being from the South, is this kind of thing typical? (actually, I’ll be working near Anniston this fall–kinda interested in the area)
Seems a little silly, but really no weirder than wanting to dress up as, say, a medieval princess. Provided they aren’t intending to glamorize the more unsavory aspects of the antebellum South (just as girls who like dressing up as princesses do not intend to glamorize the more unsavory aspects of the Middle Ages) then I don’t see anything really offensive about it.
