Why Does PRSA ICON Have a “Whorehouse” in It?
A male U of TN-Knoxville PR prof will present a "poster board session" entitled "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" at PRSA ICON.
Is the 2025 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) International Conference (ICON) seeking to interject into the modern PR lexicon some newfangled version of “The Chicken Ranch” brothel – as famously depicted in the 1978 Dolly Parton / Burt Reynolds / Dom DeLuise musical comedy, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” – at its upcoming October event in Washington, D.C.?
It may be, according to a scheduled “poster board session,” to be delivered by PRSA Educators Academy Chair and University of Tennessee-Knoxville public relations assistant professor, Dr. Joe Stabb.
At a local level in Greater Knoxville, Tennessee, where I also live, Dr. Stabb also serves as current president of the PRSA Volunteer Chapter in Knoxville and as its “communications committee chair” as well (among even more roles), which means Dr. Stabb controls all of the local PRSA chapter’s social media handles and its website.
Not surprisingly, many of the PRSA Volunteer Chapter’s online postings often praise and endorse Dr. Stabb and his friends:
Alternately, I myself have been “blocked” by the PRSA Volunteer Chapter from even seeing the chapter’s Facebook page, for example.
The PRSA ICON “poster board session” to be led by Dr. Stabb using this film’s very title, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” has been published and posted online as part of the formal event itinerary – but with no explanation whatsoever about why the provocative title, or, what its ethical or scholarly relevance possibly could be to a PRSA attendee audience of professionals and PRSSA college students… mostly females.
Other “poster board sessions” slated at ICON appear to feature credible and valid titles. Dr. Stabb’s “Whorehouse” title stands apart from other presenters’ titles featuring such words as “pedagogy” and “ethics”:
The posted registration cost alone (not counting travel, hotel, incidentals) to attend the PRSA ICON event is not cheap, particularly if taxpayers are footing the bill:
PRSA conferences are generally 70-80% female in attendance, reflecting the vastly female demographics of the PR industry workforce.
Of course, just because women do most of the work in the PR trenches doesn’t mean they run the show.
For starters, look at PRSA’s own National Board composition: 11 men (including a male National Chair and Immediate Past Chair who largely set the agenda) and 8 women (the two “Senior Counsel” individuals at the bottom of the photo are non-voting).
Which begs the question:
What kind of message is a “whorehouse” poster board session title supposed to send to mostly female PR college students and young academics in particular at the PRSA Educators Academy sessions (which are part of the larger PRSA ICON event upcoming)? Many of these attendees may have never even heard of the film before, since it would have predated their birth. So on whom is this joke supposed to be?
I emailed the dean and the PR program head of the UT College of Communication and Information a few nights ago to inquire about Dr. Stabb’s odd presentation title — since they supervise him — but they’ve not found the time to respond to me yet or acknowledge my questions, at this writing.
Maybe that’s because they know that UT is a paid “sponsor” of the PRSA Educators Academy, with UT’s logo emblazoned on the PRSA website (I presume this sponsorship is paid with Tennessee taxpayer dollars):
Dr. Stabb includes specific symbols at the top of his online faculty profile on UT’s public-facing website, which declare to UT’s HR department that he is part of one or more protected classes of Tennessee taxpayer-funded employee. I don’t know if that status essentially makes him untouchable or what (or if his status outweighs women’s status relative to nondiscrimination), regardless of the quality or nature of his scholarly output of the “whorehouse” variety (or other topics which hopefully feature better optics):
Notably, the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Education was in town here in Knoxville just yesterday on her multi-city tour, and so I’m sure UT’s full attention was diverted elsewhere, understandably — hence the lack of response to my written concerns registered directly over the past few days to UT:
For good measure, I also dropped a note to UT’s Compliance Department (I’ve sent several notes of serious concern to them since December 2024, incidentally… so they know me well!), to ask that they follow up.
I essentially told UT Compliance that I can only consider Dr. Stabb’s apparent attempt to be creative and cute (?) with his “poster board session” more than a smidge misogynistic and mocking… particularly given UT’s most recent talking points as directed to Sen. Marsha Blackburn about how much UT values — not DEI! — but “access” for “all”… faculty member “whorehouse” talk on international PR conference platforms notwithstanding.
More on my recent blog post citing UT-CCI inconsistencies on UT’s “No DEI to see here!” assurances can be found at this link.
Also, as breaking news yesterday — just in time for Sec. McMahon’s visit — UT has now hired a law firm to conduct an “audit” of UT’s (former?) DEI programs and systemic / governance mandates, to make sure that they are “compliant” going forward.
I immediately discovered, however, that the law firm UT hired (Saul Ewing) features an entire section of its own law firm’s website spotlighting and lauding how much they value and embrace (you guessed it!)… DEI:
How the foxes now plan to guard this chicken ranch (uh… excuse me, henhouse) is now my question to the world.
It’s been made clear to me for years that PRSA is accountable to no one, even though federal and Tennessee taxpayer funds pay who-knows-how-much in U.S. government- and military-employed PR and public affairs staff persons’ / faculty members’ dues to the New York-headquartered PRSA business league.
Stay tuned!
Mary Beth West is a Tennessee-based public relations strategist and an alumna of UT-Knoxville’s College of Communication and Information. She can be contacted at mb@marybethwest.com and followed on X at @marybethwest.