college girls, funny and informative I don't typically read non-fiction books, but the cover for this caught my eye, and I bought it. It definitely wasn't a mistake. This is an interesting look through the history of young women and their participation in the 'college life'. Like the back cover says, this book is a blend of popular culture criticism and a humorous look at women's history. If you like your history with a dose of humor, then "College Girls" is the book for you. The book is illustrated in black and white(but high quality) pictures, often with hilarious notes.
Fantastic Book I really like this book. I wish it was around when I was about to enter college. It does not give specific advice on th how's and what's of college life but the antecdotes of the author and other contributors let you know you aren't the only one who has ever had an embarrassing moment in the dining hall or a crazy roommate. I bought it for my cousins who are going into college soon and I wrote in the margins some of my experiences. I really think this is a great book for past, present, and future college women. Never Be Sorry for Getting Educated 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.Smart and Funny!
If you love Lynn Peril's column in BUST Magazine, "Museum of Femorbilia," you'll love COLLEGE GIRLS. A smart, funny, irreverent narrative of The College Girl deftly constructed from pop culture, women's history, advertising, and strange ancient texts that aren't really ancient at all, but that only Lynn Peril could find and synthesize in such an engaging manner.College girls ` 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.
