I just learned what this is today and it’s a whole new world.
Here is link without paywall. Opinion | What Bama Rush Reveals About the South - The New York Times
If you don’t use TikTok this IG acct is breaking it down
https://instagram.com/ annehelenpetersen
Look out this excellent counter punch to northern culture
The brilliant Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote the article. If you have not read her book, Thick, put it on reserve at your local library, or better yet, buy the audio book, which she narrates. The combination of her soft Southern voice and her razor sharp mind is just devastating. I had to frequently stop the audio book and just sit with what she was saying.
Thank you for the rec! I will check it out!!
Omg what did you do to me?
I’m not sure why but I just spent the last half an hour watching bamarush TikToks from AnneHelenPetersen’s Instagram (because I’m old and don’t have TikTok). I’m super fascinated and looking forward to whatever project she ends up putting together.
I went to a big state school (UCLA) with a Greek system but nothing like this.
I mean, I see what they’re saying, sort of. But the volume and pressure is way way lower imo. It’s much more tolerated to ‘opt out’ in the north. Even if what you choose to opt out of is independence and feminism.
Yes I would agree with you. I went to a large, SEC state university in the south, and Sorority and Rush was a HUGE thing and to NOT be that kind of girl was to be an outcast. At least through my experience it very much felt like there was one way to be feminine and if it didn’t involve hair extensions, heavy makeup, and looking like a cheerleader, then it wasn’t the right way. I had more than one person over my 4 years of college question my sexual identity because I didn’t look feminine in the acceptable way.
I lived in the mountain west for years after college and while yes, there is the “outdoor cool girl” kind of thing happening, people care way way less and there is less pressure to look any kind of way in general. I can clearly remember a moment when I was around 22-23 and finally settling into living in CO and finding my people and I thought…all of my teen and college years I thought something was wrong with me, I wasn’t the right kind of girl, or feminine enough because my aesthetic wasn’t the ONE aesthetic that = feminine in the South. But really I was just living in the wrong place. Once I left the South, I never felt that kind of pressure ever again.
I actually went back to my college town when I was 26 for a friends wedding, and I still remember how I felt, sitting in this room with all these girls while they were getting ready…most of them ex- sorority girls , and it was like being in a time machine back to college. Me sitting in a corner, wearing what I thought was going to be “cute” for this New Years eve wedding, but my dress wasn’t feminine or fancy enough, my hair is brown and curly and does exactly one thing, I didn’t think to wear makeup and I remember feeling again like…I got it all wrong. I stuck out like a sore thumb in all of the pictures and still have a lot of weird feelings about that event. I’m still soooo grateful that I escaped that place and found people and community that helped me realize that whatever way I wanted to dress and look had no bearing on who I was as a person.
I read this article and found it super interesting - a look into a world that I’ve never really thought about even though rush was a huge thing at my (central Illinois) college.
Aha, thank you, I don’t tiktok either.
I don’t fully understand it all because sleep deprived, but this stuck out to me from the article:
“The Bama version is wholesome, nonthreatening, traditional femininity in Lululemon athleisure”
The description does not feel “non-threatening” to me. But i can see how it would seem non threatening to general media or people who fit really well in their local culture’s social groups.
