College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-eds, Then and Now (Paperback)

by Lynn Peril (Author)
Key Phrases: early college girls, coed campuses, parietal rules, New York Times, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Will her B.A. ruin her chances for an M-r-s.? Will too much study endanger her procreative organs? And if higher education is truly safe for a young woman, what sort of curriculum is appropriate? Greek and Latin? Home economics? According to Peril (Pink Think), in this history of women in colleges, ever since the first young ladies went off to their "dame schools" in early America, people have been debating such questions. Underlying these mentionable fears was one more worrisome: who would protect a girl's virtue when she lived away from home, surrounded by hormonal young men? As Peril makes clear, throughout history "[a]dults inevitably get their granny-sized panties in a bunch when it comes to the sexcapades of the younger generation." True, she's focused on prescriptive material more than the actual experiences of co-eds in various eras, but it's eye-opening to see how consistently advice-givers and advertisers have played on the same few anxieties regarding the female student. The material that Peril has included on student experiences—particularly the stories of women at historically black colleges—helps balance the text. Peril's witty, irreverent style, her generous use of old advertisements and photos and her careful footnotes make this text unusually user-friendly. (Aug.)
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From Booklist
Peril follows Pink Think (2002) with another witty and humorous look at women's history. This time she takes her interest in pop culture and feminism onto the college campuses of the past, and the result is a book packed with information on everything from dress codes and etiquette to sororities and "woman--oriented curriculum." In the midst of ads from companies such as Borden asking, "Do college girls make better wives?" Peril offers serious discussions of the numerous rules and regulations applied to women from the moment of acceptance until graduation and questions of race. She has also uncovered society's view of female education, coming up with such sterling quotes as this from the New York Times: "The terrors of Greek, the intricacies of mathematics, the mysteries of psychology--all pale before the laborious tolls of the laundry course, which requires good, stout muscle and a cheery heart rather than quick wits and a vocabulary." Researchers and pleasure readers alike will find a great deal to appreciate in Peril's fresh and engaging work. Colleen Mondor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1 edition (August 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393327159
• ISBN-13: 978-0393327151
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #528,160 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rah! Rah! Rah!, October 1, 2006

By	Karen N. Finlay - See all my reviews

As a longtime fan of Peril's -- from her absolutely excellent 'zine "Mystery Date" to her monthly "Museum of Femorabilia" column in BUST Magazine to her first book "Pink Think" -- I could not wait to get my hands on her latest book, "College Girls." In fact, I pre-ordered it on Amazon when I had first heard about it. And it did not disappoint. Full of facts, history, and yes -- a "we've come a long way, baby" feeling, but written in an engaging, accessible way that kept me going from the first page to the last, never feeling I was mired down in sermonizing. Peril's wit and superior knowledge (and what a reference library from which she culls!) takes us through history, with lots of fantastic anecdotes along the way. She tackles the serious (ie the first female scholars, racism, in loco parentis) and the fun (fashion, spreads, and time honored traditions). The well-chosen pictures that accompany the text are marvelous, too. It made me realize how lucky I was to be a college girl because of all the women who paved the way for me, and grateful because Peril wrote it all down. Every "sweet girl graduate" I know -- whether they are graduating from middle or high school, college, or did so long ago -- will be getting this book from me. Highly, highly rtecommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Be Sorry for Getting Educated, September 6, 2007

By	Veronica Anzaldua - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this interesting read, author Lynn Peril chronicles the birth and development of the college girl. Ever since she appeared on the scene in the 19th century, the college girl has been the hot topic of conversation, incurring the curiosity--and wrath--of everyone from writers and philosophers to doctors and parents to social commentators. Whether it was doctors wondering whether "too much" education "endangered" her reproductive organs (Dr. Edward Clarke, who considered himself an expert in this area, claimed that too much education would leave a female college graduate with "undeveloped" ovaries) or books and magazines ("Seventeen" and "Better Homes and Gardens", just to mention a few) advising college-educated girls and women not to be "too smart" to avoid scaring away potential suitors or schools wondering whether women should learn "male" subjects such as math, history, ancient languages, and philosophy or "female" subjects such as learning how to fix and operate an iron, the college girl has been constantly scutinized, ridiculed, and regulated over the years (and unfortunately, even today), all just for wanting to get an education.

Not only does this book contain a history of the college girl, it also contains some interesting info on the history of the women's colleges, such as Vassar, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr, among many others. But most importantly, I came away with an important message that's not in the book, but that I will pass on to you and that is: Never be sorry for wanting to get an education. No piece of advice, no warning, no admonishment, no outrageous medical or scientific claim should ever stop you or me.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars College girls `, March 28, 2007

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

I always wondered what they were doing over there in the Girls Dorms. Now Lynn Peril has written a work which traces the development of women in the college world. While she starts with a first graduate in 1631 her focus is on developments from mid-nineteenth century to the nineteen - seventies. In this the theme of women's achieving equality in freedom over their own private lives is central. The world of over- supervision, and restriction yielded in time to the not necessarily happy one of women 'hooked up' in relationships in which sexual pleasure became 'ego trip' and intimacy and love, left on the sidelines. In between however there is the realm where greater woman's freedom and autonomy were at the heart of a general liberalization of campus life.
Peril uses a wide variety of sources to trace the developments in fashion, in style, in sleeping arrangements, in attitudes towards the marital and career prospects of college women. She makes use of students handbooks and yearbooks, advice manuals, popular novels. She provides a full picture of what their lives were like, and how they were transformed through the decades.
One central question again relates to intimacy and the dignity of women, with a strong suggestion that rampant promiscuity is not a sign of liberation but rather of a new kind of enslavement. Apparently the fuddy- duddies had it a bit right when they suggest that for most women sexual pleasure must come in the context of loving and committed relationships if they are to satisfy their deepest human needs.