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Comments about Bama Rush women make me cringe
The commentary around Bama Rush is both amusing and disheartening. Yes, some of the young women wear insanely expensive clothes and yes, many of them are blonde, thin, and pretty. They smile at the camera, show off their outfit, and give perky pep talks about seizing the day. It’s like watching a reality show.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen the dated term Mrs. Degree thrown around more than once. It’s an easy way to reduce these women to nothing more than pretty girls who are only in school long enough to find husbands from wealthy families.
I thought that since I graduated in 1999, we had moved beyond the notion that young, college-educated women who choose to marry young are gold-diggers or spoiled and living off daddy’s money.
I was wrong.
Between my junior and senior year of college, I married my husband, James. I was twenty-two. We lived in the San Francisco Bay Area where marriage, kids, and home-buying are often delayed until the thirties or beyond, so our decision struck many as odd.
Unlike me, James never held a job until after graduation, and he’d never paid a bill or had his own place. I, however, supported myself with two jobs while taking classes full-time. I had a car payment…