Stereotype

I went to a "hoedown" yesterday. It was a party for a friend of mine who just turned 20. When I saw her on Thursday she singled me out to ask about square dancing. I know nothing about square dancing except that you have to have a partner and you stand in a square. I was not particularly bothered by this. When I went to the party EVERYONE was "dressed up" in what they though was cowboy/cowgirl/country clothing. That didn't bother me much either; what did bother me was that everyone expected me to be dressed up too. In the last, well as long as I can remember I have only owned one "cowgirl" shirt and never cowboy boots. I thought I got away from all that when I moved to Cali. I was quite mistaken. Another thing that really bothered me was that everyone was trying to speak with a country/hick accent. And while they were way, way off and I tried really hard, I could hear myself slip back into a true hick accent. This bothers me so much because I had to be very careful while I was in college to not have any hint of an accent other wise people would not listen to me. I felt like these people at this party were making fun of where I came from, making fun of me, without even knowing it. I'm glad the party was a lot more like a costume party than a barn dance because I don't think I could have taken watching people pretend to do things that they think I have actually done just because I came from a rural area.