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Old 11-21-2012, 09:24 PM
 
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I have an acquaintance who has two daughters, both in their late teens. Both of them have selected, and enrolled, in all-women colleges. They are good, recognizable schools, but not top drawer. There are good coed private colleges where they could have easily been admitted. With the exception of a military academy, I don't know if other all-men colleges exist, let alone why someone would want to attend one. (Catholic HSs who were single-sex found themselves going coed or merging the adjacent brother-sister schools in order to survive).

The reason I ask is because they "treated" me to a lesson in feminism subsequent to an observation of something in the media, choosing to make it a sexist issue rather than one about bad taste, which it was. As someone who could have been their father, that didn't sit with me. I "treated" them to a lesson in "it is what it is," generational societal norms, and respecting their elders. They backed down.

If your offspring chose to attend a single-sex college, would you be scratching your head? Would this be further heightened if it was accompanied by already pronounced feminist ideologies? I'm wondering what most people on C-D Psychology would think. Let's keep it civil.
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Old 11-21-2012, 10:03 PM
 
Location: The Mitten.
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"The reason I ask is because they "treated" me to a lesson in feminism subsequent to an observation of something in the media, choosing to make it a sexist issue rather than one about bad taste, which it was."

What does this mean?

One of the reasons for choosing an all female-college is the pleasure of not having men butting in their opinions in class, talking over and over-riding women's voices. Another reason is the feeling of solidarity which ensues when women are surrounded by other brilliant women.
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Old 11-21-2012, 11:11 PM
 
Location: California
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It could be a number of reasons. I know one girl who chose an all girls college because she felt it would make her stronger. Apparently she took a backseat to some of the boys in high school. Some woman just enjoy the academic atmosphere more when men aren't there to cause distractions. Some just recognize and acknowledge the reasons for feminist ideologies at a young age and are persuaded by that.

BTW, if someone their fathers age can play the "norms" and "generation" card when they say things in bad taste they deserve a dose of whatever these girls gave him. They didn't really need to be schooled by you. Learning what you can and can't get away with saying two way street and you're never to old to learn.
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Old 11-21-2012, 11:16 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenstyle View Post
What does this mean?

One of the reasons for choosing an all female-college is the pleasure of not having men butting in their opinions in class, talking over and over-riding women's voices. Another reason is the feeling of solidarity which ensues when women are surrounded by other brilliant women.
For the first part, I don't feel like being a raconteur. It was a generational thing for me. It was a gender thing for them. Obviously, this exchange did NOT take place in a school setting.

Men don't need this feeling of "solidarity." Again, I can't think of conventional multidisciplinary all-men colleges in America. You make it sound like a male presence dilutes women's achievements. That's not the case with our female justices in the Supreme Court. What's the solidarity for? What has transpired in a young woman's life that she needs to feel affirmed by solidarity by the time she is 17 or 18? Most young ladies that age want to go to a coed university, be it a large one or a small one, a far away one or a local one.

Let me cut to the chase, then. Does this indicate something about their sexual leanings? If your kids get up to college age and make the choice of an all-woman school for college, then what has transpired before this is "water under the bridge," whatever the situation might have been. I don't understand this choice, when there are universities so diverse and with so many offerings where they could have thrived. I wouldn't want to go to a single-sex college. That would be like going to a place with half the world excluded. That's not reality. If anything, college is the best place to learn to deal with ALL kinds of people, from all over the world.
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Old 11-21-2012, 11:23 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece View Post
It could be a number of reasons. I know one girl who chose an all girls college because she felt it would make her stronger. Apparently she took a backseat to some of the boys in high school. Some woman just enjoy the academic atmosphere more when men aren't there to cause distractions. Some just recognize and acknowledge the reasons for feminist ideologies at a young age and are persuaded by that.

BTW, if someone their fathers age can play the "norms" and "generation" card when they say things in bad taste they deserve a dose of whatever these girls gave him. They didn't really need to be schooled by you. Learning what you can and can't get away with saying two way street and you're never to old to learn.
I didn't say anything in bad taste. You misread. I called something in the media for its bad taste. It involved insulting a young woman being brazen about her promiscuity and heightened sexual awareness in the media. I told them I would have also chided a young man for doing the same thing. My issue is that propagandizing this type of behavior in the media is not optimal. Their issue is that I insulted a woman. I didn't expect to be attacked for a more conservative point of view. I know their Dad. When the going got rough, their Mom stepped in and selectively chose to see the peripheral issue, rather than the central one. She, too, got put in her place. At any rate, I just gave the background. This is about psychology, and possibly parenting. Does a parent stand by and think "oh, ok" about their child's choice of a single-sex college?
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Old 11-22-2012, 12:37 AM
 
Location: FL
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I'll keep my answer a "general" answer because I cannot imagine my own daughter choosing a female only college.

I can however see some valid reasons for doing so.

1 - A young woman who truly wants to focus strictly on her education before becoming distracted by dating etc.

2- A young woman who may have experienced some type of sexual harrasment, might want to take a break from being around men for a while.

The other responses that you could not comprehend are also could reasons for the choice. Not to mention your use of the phrase "she was put in her place" that is exactly the type of mentality that would make some women take a break from being around men.
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Old 11-22-2012, 02:58 AM
 
Location: California
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Does a parent stand by and think "oh, ok" about their child's choice of a single-sex college?
I would have.
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Old 11-22-2012, 08:55 AM
 
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Ok, so me personally I am a teenager who is picking college at the moment and I have applied to an all girls school. Was it my intention, absolutely not. I got a scholarship So I went to visit. Prior to visiting I had the same impression that you seem to have, the idea was not something that I was comfortable with or an idea I wanted to loo into, but I got the scholarship so I went to look. As surprising as it seems, I LOVED it.

I've never had an issue talking up when a guy is speaking and I've never felt like guys overshadowed me in anything (except maybe gym). What I saw in the school however, was an increased sense of community and comfort. At 2 am there was a group of girls being silly and chasing someone (who happened to be in a towel) and I almost positive had there been guys on the floor that wouldn't have happened.

I spoke to a student there and she said that lack of guys being her class allowed for her to be more open in certain classes. She said one class- Human sexuality to be exact- she feels comfortable asking questions whereas had there been a guy in class she wouldn't have thought to ask at all.

What a lot of people do not realize ( myself included prior to this experience) is that you are not surrounded by women 100% of the time. Most college campuses are open during the day so other people do stroll Into the campus and from what I saw many of these wanderers were men (hmm, wonder why?). There are also many opportunities to interact with guys so long as you make yourself available to them. IN the specific school I visited there were inter collegiate activites which were very popular. About a 10 minute wal fro campus was a predominately engineering school which is 80% male, they have fears were They invite the girls from the all girls campus.

Do you know what school the girl is looking at because it may not TRULY be all girls- the admissions department at the school I visited said "although most classes are all women, many schools are All women because the only available housing is women only".

Unless the college is the only college within a 20 mile radius it's no big deal (IMO)
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Old 11-22-2012, 10:23 AM
 
14,727 posts, read 33,242,287 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by looking4answers12 View Post
The other responses that you could not comprehend are also could reasons for the choice. Not to mention your use of the phrase "she was put in her place" that is exactly the type of mentality that would make some women take a break from being around men.
Watching a commercial to which I said it's "skanky," and so is the girl in it, essentially fueled the ensuing debate ... and this question.

As enrollees in all-female colleges, I had nothing but that to chalk their arguing up to. I hardly doubt 19 year old girls enrolled at a decent public university or a medium-sized coed private or religious university would have felt this "challenged." Interestingly enough, the girl in the commercial was nothing like these girls. What trigger point I pulled is beyond me, hardly ever been in contact with them. However, I'm sure they can dig into the arsenal of their experiences.

If I had a smart daughter that age, I would have said to pick out a highly-ranked selective public university with 20,000 to 30,000 students and see that there's a different world out there, from different parts the country and the world, and do stuff like clubs, semester exchange, etc. ... and watch your grades and develop street sense about who is a jerky guy and who isn't.
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Old 11-24-2012, 12:06 PM
 
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I'm female, I never had the desire to go to an all female school or college. Personally, having been the target of mean girl type of behavior in junior high and at some workplaces, I find the whole sisterly solidarity thing to be a myth, though I do have many female friends I like and trust.

But other women have different needs, wants and experiences. I remember in the publicity surrounding the Phoebe Prince case, a woman wrote in either an article about it or in comments to an article that she went through something similar and being at an all women college helped her heal from it.

Some women are intimidated by men being assertive in class and need a different environment to foster their own assertiveness.

Not my cup of tea personally, but I think options are good for people to have.

The situation you describe may be part of a reaction to the double standard. Women can be harshly judged for their sexuality. IMO, if you would judge a man the same way as you did the woman in the commercial, then that's not sexism. But a lot of people do judge a woman differently. Without knowing more about the commercial in question, it's hard to say
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