^^^ Hardly! These are proper young Southern ladies and this occasion is their introduction to society as such. For the purpose of letting the rest of society know that they are available to be considered for wedlock to the appropriate young Southern Gentleman. Their escorts (the same Southern Gentlemen) are chosen for them by their parents and are arranged in most cases while said youths are still in the bassinette.
Piling in the limo and hitting Taco Bell is allowed after prom or home coming, but NEVER after Cotillion. Their mothers would faint dead away.
Liz, you missed the Carolinas, Georgia, and Mississippi.
While it sounds archaic to some degree, in some ways I wish we still observed some of these gentile traditions. The world was a softer, quieter, more polite place then. Of course if you tried to force me to go to one at the age of 18, you'd have had to wire me with detcord and hold me at gunpoint and likely gag me to shut me up. Maybe similar in difficulty to trying to give a cat a bath.
