Princeton Mom from a 20-Something's Point of View

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I overheard a preview for an upcoming segment on the Today Show that would involve "Princeton Mom" and the promotion of her upcoming book. I knew the name sounded familiar so I decided to sit down and watch the interview conducted by Savannah Guthrie. For those of you who are not familiar with "Princeton Mom" the name refers to Susan Patton, a Princeton graduate who wrote an open letter for the university's newspaper stressing the importance for collegiate females to find their husbands during their time at school. If you didn't get a chance to watch the interview this morning I've provided it here. I suggest watching it before you continue reading.

Before I begin I want to make it clear that the following are just my personal opinions on the points Princeton Mom is trying to make. If you don't agree with me, thats fine. You're entitled to your opinion just the same as I am mine, and I am sorry if the following offends you. 

As you know I am a 20-something female who is also a recent graduate of college so I fit Princeton Mom's (PM) target audience pretty perfectly. 

One of P.M.'s main suggestions is for college girls to invest 75% of their energy into finding a partner and 25% in professional development. Her reasoning is because we will never again be exposed to a pool of men this large again. She also states that if we plan to have children, naturally our fertility will decline with age making that less likely. She stresses that work can wait but a family can't. 

Heres where my opinions come in. I went to college mainly because I knew that to find a job that would pay well and that I enjoyed I would need an education. I agree the college is a social and educational thing, but I really feel like a 75 to 25 scale is bit one sided. I also have a bit of an issue with her dating pool topic. If I married anyone in college my life would be completely different. I am not saying there is anything wrong in doing so, but for me personally I feel as though I wouldn't have been able to do everything I want to do with my life. Is it a crime that I want to experience some things before settling down? It kind of feels like it is when someone is so adamant about starting a family. 

Another topic P.M. chooses to talk about is body work. She claims that to be as socially successful in college as possible people should get the necessary "body work" done in high school. When asked if this meant plastic surgery she said yes because if you're personally uncomfortable with something it will  hold you back. To be absolutely honest this pissed me off. If I would have heard this before heading to college I would have been terrified. I feel like this sets girls up to be hyper critical of themselves for fear that they will never find a husband. I'm a huge promoter of feeling beautiful in your own skin and I feel like P.M. is pushing girls to make decisions they might later regret. 

The last point that P.M. made that sparked a reaction from me was her "spare me your 'blaming the victim' outrage". P.M.'s point was that if a girl is too drunk or too high to say no or remove herself from a situation she can't blame a man for taking advantage. I understand that she is saying that you should try to remove yourself from unsafe situations, but a comment as ignorant as the above quote makes me sick. Just because someone is intoxicated doesn't mean they are asking for something terrible to happen to them, maybe if Princeton Mom has a daughter she would understand that. 

Obviously Princeton Mom and I are on completely different pages when it comes to these issues. Again I totally understand if you disagree with me in any way but I personally wanted to address these issues on a platform that focuses on life after college. In Princeton Mom's opinion, I failed miserably in finding a husband, but hell I'm not mad about it. 

Thanks for reading !!