One day I was sitting at Newks with my BFF Rachel, and we were discussing our days, talking about our dogs and I was picking the tomatoes out of my salad. Somehow, the conversation took a turn and Rachel informed me that I would flip when I heard what project her sister (Rebecca Walker, Managing Director for AL.com) was working on. Sure enough, I did.
The project is called the Southern Girl Project. I took some time to interview Rebecca and here's what I found out about this incredible project.
What is your mission statement for the project?
Through the Southern Girls Project, we want to listen to girls. People (the media especially) spend a lot of time talking to girls, but we want to hear from them. We want to bring girls across the south together into a massive conversation about the experience of growing up as a girl in the south in 2016. And based on what they tell us, we want to share their stories and experiences with our traditional news audience so they can gain insight into girls’ lives in ways that we hope will improve the future for southern girls.
Our social media presence, @re._.belle, is how we’re reaching out to girls and listening to them. We hope soon it will become an account run for girls by girls. We’re currently seeking southern girls, age 13 to 17, who want to do Instagram and Snapchat takeovers to share their experiences with our followers. Currently we’re sharing with our followers the girls we’re talking to, and also seeking out opportunities to expand that reach.
We’re using our news websites and our Tumblr to communicate to the wider audience what we learn in our conversations with girls. We’ll be doing that through stories, videos, photos, etc.
Why did you think this project was important to start?
We believe that the media landscape hasn’t traditionally valued girls’ voices, so we wanted to take a step toward changing that. We’re seeking partners (journalists, artists, researchers, creative types) across the south who want to contribute to it. We (al.com and nola.com) are media agencies with a broad audience, and we know that almost everyone in that audience has a girl in their life they care about—be it a daughter, niece, friend, student… so we knew this topic would be worth exploring.
What kind of girls do you interview for this project?
Girls age 17 and under, who are either in the south, of the south, or consider themselves southern. We’ve been interviewing for months, anyone who’ll talk to us, who identifies as a southern girl or a girl in the south.
What would you say is the definition of a southern sirl?
I think for so long, the definition has been one of two stereotypes—white girls, raised either in economically privileged households, or white girls raised “in the country” who wear cowboy boots and go mudding. If you want to see what I’m talking about, head over to Pinterest and search “southern girls.” You’ll see what I’m talking about. And I don’t mean to disparage those girls who do those things… we just know that’s not the sum total of southern girls.
However, for this project, on a base level, a southern girl is one who’s raised in a southern state, or has deep ties to the south. She has many of the same experiences as other girls in the U.S., but her personal life is shaped in some way by the landscape and history of the south— either positively or negatively. Our region is so socio-economically diverse, regardless of what the southern girl archetype might be. And acknowledging and exploring that diversity is how we hope to redefine the modern southern girl, and to view our region through a lens that helps us understand how we’re shaping the south that our girls will inherit.
Why is it necessary to redefine the term or idea of a southern belle?
I’m not trying to redefine southern belles! Those who identify as such have a very specific definition of what that means. But our ReBelle brand was conceived and designed by a design agency in Ensley, Alabama that’s run by teenagers. After weeks of brainstorming what people associate with southern girls, and ways we could reach beyond the stereotype of a southern girl, these girls at Kuumba developed “ReBelle: Redefining the Southern Girl.” And that’s how our social media identity was born.
We do believe that in order to reach the diverse groups that make up southern girls, we’d have to make it clear that when we say “Southern Girls Project,” we aren’t just talking about white girls. We hope this logo and identity demonstrate that.
Watch this video and tell me it doesn't give you chills!
If I haven't sold you yet, reread it. It's incredible. An opportunity to support encouraging girls in the south the reach their full potential? I'm so in. I think you should be too.
Follow them on:
AL.com
