"scarce" resources, college and sexism

[rm]

And then there's this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/23britz.html

It's the sort of thing that makes it hard for me to imagine any world in which women, at least as a group, don't always lose.

via rackmount

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

To me the question is "how many people still go to college with the plan that this is where they will meet their spouse?"

I think the number is way higher than most of us would say.

[spiralflames.livejournal.com]

my sister told me, when she took her daughter to tour one of the small private colleges here, that someone actually told her, "ring by spring or your money back."

i used to hear 'jokes' about someone getting an "m.r.s." degree- i really had no idea that was not only serious, but ADMITTED, now.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I remember my mother talking about. She went to Katherine Gibbs Secretarial College after dropping out of B.U. And it was sort of a stigma thing -- you weren't going to get married going to Gibbs so you were either assumed to be a slut or a lesbian or had to hope your future boss would fall for you.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

O_O.

Looks like I got lucky, in that that assumption didn't seem to hold true where I went. People would expect people to hook up with other coeds (it made for abundant fodder for the student-run bog rag), but hoping for wedding bells as a result would be highly unusual. Maybe it's an American thing?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Not only is it an American thing, I would argue it may even be a New England thing, because I hear it around here all the time.

[graene.livejournal.com]

I heard it in Chicago, and er, Hello Mormons! boys return from missions, buy a ring and enroll at BYU according to friend who was there.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, but that's a whole different culture in terms of the dating to marriage time-line.

[graene.livejournal.com]

True, but it's still rigorous (they claim) admissions in order to find a spouse, just on both genders.

[sethg]

My wife recently said, regarding a certain teenage relative of mine who is stunningly deficient in practical-life skills (thanks to the bubble of privilege and overprotectiveness that she was raised in), that she had better get an m.r.s. degree from whatever college she goes to, because four years of college is not going to give her adequate preparation for a career.

So, umm, what small private college is this? :-/

[spiralflames.livejournal.com]

it was either st.olaf or gustavus adolphus here in minnesota.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Wow/shudder, I thought this had faded away decades ago.

[dulcinbradbury.livejournal.com]

College is a time in your life when you have the time to make friends who have common interests & meet people. I know people who have graduated and moved to a new city... and suddenly they have no social life. They work 8 hours or more & commute at least an hour or two. And I'm still a dating service/Internet dating skeptic.

That said, it's not where I met *my* husband. Although, through an odd string of things, I wouldn't have met him if I hadn't gone to the college I did.