Y'all Come Back Now!! (ugh)

Warning: I'm going to stray from feminism a little bit.

As previously stated, I've been re-reading The Devil Wears Prada for some light, easy summer reading; however, it's not as easy as I'd hoped. Lauren Weisberger, the author, and/or Andi Sachs, the main character, are total haters of the South! The main character is literally disgusted by the fact that her sister married a Texan, and even more disgusted by the fact that her sister has picked up a bit of a Southern accent after living in Texas, with a Southern man, for several years. The character talks about actually cringing every time her brother-in-law speaks. Seriously? I know that I've grown up around Southern accents, but I can't imagine why it's any more cringe-worthy than any other accent (or why any accent is cringe-worthy, for that matter).

Later in the book, Andi has to work at a party full of Southern guests. Very wealthy guests. She describes the rich guests as women with big-hair and tackily, over-applied make-up. Again: seriously? Is this the only image of Southerners (or rich Southerners) out there? And she doesn't even choose one character to note that not all Southerners fit any stereotypes (she reluctantly admits that her brother-in-law is nice, but this is followed by the cringing remark, so it doesn't count in my book). I hate to think that this is how people unfamiliar with the South still think of us but I think it really might be.

Women are trying to move past stereotypes of virgin/whore, passive, emotional, etc. Racial and ethnic minorities continue to fight against hundreds of offensive stereotypes. GLBT groups and people are fighting against narrow-minded, 2-dimensional representations of themselves in the media. Why aren't we Southerners fighting against the images of us as stupid, red-neck, hick, tacky and unsophisticated people? Just like any other stereotypes, these images have actual effects on our day-to-day lives (like when my mother gave a formal, professional presentation for work, and a man on the panel could only tell her how impressed he was that she, a Southern woman, was able to speak quickly and articulate!).

I know this has nothing to do with feminism, but what can I say? Today I'm not angry as a feminist.
I'm angry as a Southerner.