Stick with me on this one, k? I always thought debutante culture was A) dumb, B) kind of appealing in an old-school-glamour kind of way, but mostly C) facile, superficial, and horrifyingly misogynistic.
I had no idea.
This wonderful article cracked my closed mind open: The Problems Solved by Debutantes. Itβs an interview with Kristen Richardson, the author of the book The Season: A Social History of the Debutante, which I absolutely devoured. The author of the interview, the fantastic writer Anne Helen Petersen, called the book,
β...an elegant ice pick, breaking and refining understandings of how young, monied women have been wielded to bolster or claim status within class and racial hierarchies.β
I learned so much. I highly recommend giving the article a read. And if youβre as fascinated as I was, definitely read the book as well. I was right about the horrifying misogyny but definitely did not understand how deeply entrenched white supremacy is into the customs as well. (You also might want to read it if youβre fascinated by the Kardashians. The book is incredibly relevant to the culture we all live in today.)
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