Southern Charm

If you travel a little south of my Ohio city, you are in for a cultural awakening. Pass the pretty lights of Cincinnati, meander through the Appalachians for a bit and you enter a whole new world of Southern charm. I think Rascal Flatts had it right, because I might have seen “Mayberry sittin’ on a porch drinking ice-cold cherry Coke.” 

Southerners of low-income have been harshly stereotyped as "white trash". When I asked roommates and friends to describe what "white trash" means to them in a few words, I received the following commentary:

"Wife-beaters. Beer in hand. Trailer. Roadkill."

Have they seen low-income southerners for themselves? Or is that just what they see on TV? Certainly, media has had its effect on the nation's idea of low-income southerners. In fact, people create homemade costumes for Halloween and have white trash bashes.

As said by a writer of the Department of Women's Gender, Race and Sexuality Studies, white trash have four distinct stereotypes:

1.Replete with references to dangerous and excessive sexuality such as rape, incest, and sexual abuse. 

2. Accept their situation for what it is and stay within the invisible boundary society constructs for them.

3. Remain in the lower middle class and therefore subject themselves to classism, objectified as "class savages". 

4. Not able to provide adequate lives for themselves. 

(https://wgss2230.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/the-representation-of-white-trash-in-the-media-specifically-in-tv-shows-and-movies/)

The writer explains that the stereotypes are connected by one underlying factor: those persons who fall under the category of white trash serve the purpose of reinforcing white power and privilege. She explains that "white" represents power, prestige and social domination; "trash" portrays a disturbing limitation and of little worth to society. 

In the popular TV show "My Name is Earl", the main character wins a lottery ticket and dedicates his life to becoming a better person. He writes a list of the bad things he has done (stealing from local stores and a middle-class family's car, paying for things from the 'leave a penny, take a penny' jar, getting drunk, smoking...etc) and sets out to redeem himself from every item on the list. Earl drinks and smokes, lacks a full time job and has no common sense at times. Due to a lack of social and financial responsibility among the characters of the small town, the five main characters

have entertaining adventures that no "reasonable" person would have. Earl exemplifies the white trash single story.

Honey Boo Boo, the reality TV series about the child beauty pageant contestant "Honey Boo Boo", has becoming the mainstream single story of white trash. Because of their language, income and family culture rooted in their rural hometown of Georgia, they have risen to fame. Viewers across the nation give mixed reviews about the show, some calling it "offensive", "outrageous" and "exploitative" while others calling it "must-see TV".  The media has deemed the family of Honey Boo Boo the epitome of white trash. Honey Boo Boo has become the white trash single story.

I have traveled to the southern states and met native southerners of low income. I found them to be hard-working, genuine and comfortable in their own skin. I found their accent to be addicting! They had high moral values and shared a contagious "southern hospitality". They were nothing like how the media portrays them! The white trash single story represented in the media may be true for a tiny sliver of low income southerners. That percentage of truth compared to the reality of that category may be as true as the idea that all housewives of high income act like this:

Just as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, "it's not that stereotypes are not true, they are incomplete." So, why do we do it? Why do I do it? I'm aware that media portrays the most extreme way of living for entertainment purposes and turns that way of living into a type of mockery. So what have I learned from this assignment? Don't be so quick to assume. Don't be so quick to judge. Don't be so quick to believe the media's single story.
It's not complete.