Susan Patton Threatens the Hookup Culture

By now everyone knows about Susan Patton. A Princeton graduate herself, mother of two sons, one a Princeton graduate and one a Princeton undergraduate, Patton had the temerity to offer some advice to Princeton coeds in a letter to the Daily Princetonian.

Had the reaction to the letter not crashed the paper’s website, I would link it.

Her advice went viral. True believing feminists were horrified. They threw themselves into such high dudgeon that you thought they had seen a witch.

If you had ever been tempted to believe that contemporary feminism is about giving women the freedom to choose the way they conduct their lives, this episode will hopefully cure you.

If demonstration were needed, the Patton kerfuffle shows unmistakably that feminism wants to dictate the way women live their lives. In less flattering terms, they want to own young women’s lives.

Feminists are happy to allow young women to participate in all manner of self-destructive behavior as long as they do not commit  the greatest crime against the feminism. That would be: marrying young.

Patton addressed herself to the daughters she never had and told them that their years at Princeton were a golden opportunity to snag a great husband. To her mind, Princeton men were great husband material. Nearly all of them are available.

A bright and nubile young coed should take advantage of the fact that the younger she is the more choice she will have. Thus,  the younger she is the more power she has in the dating marketplace.

Suggesting that as women age the pool of eligible men shrinks, Patton recommends that these women make Princeton a happy husband hunting ground.

Patton chose to express herself because she was disturbed to see young women receiving only one message about a proper life plan. They are receive the message that their feminist masters want them to receive.

She explained her reasoning in The Huffington Post:

I sincerely feel that too much focus has been placed on encouraging young women only to achieve professionally. I understand that this can be seen as retrogressive, but for those women who aspire to what used to be thought of as a traditional life with home and family, there is almost no ink addressing personal fulfillment outside of the workplace. Specifically, finding lifelong friends and the right partner with whom to share a life and raise a family.

Obviously, feminists flew into a frenzy. They have no tolerance for anyone who would try to loosen their control over young women.

Writing on Gawker, Caity Weaver launched an intemperate rant. I assume that she wanted to show that being a feminist means kissing sobriety goodbye.

For those young women who might be tempted to follow Patton’s advice, Weaver labeled it: “batshit crazy and extremely offensive. Also, embarrassing!”

That means that if you bring it up in polite conversation with a feminist you are risking your life. She is warning you that if you voice such opinions you will be subjected to mindless abuse and eventual ostracism.

For reasons that it needs to explain, feminism is severely threatened by the notion that young women in college should approach dating from the perspective of finding a mate. Are they worried that a new sense of purposeful dating would threaten the hookup culture.

Now that we know what feminists find offensive, let’s take another look at what feminists do not find offensive.

A while back I commented on a piece that philosophy professor Nancy Bauer wrote for the New York Times.

Bauer described the alternative to the Patton approach:

Visit an American college campus on a Monday morning and you’ll find any number of amazingly ambitious and talented young women wielding their brain power, determined not to let anything — including a relationship with some needy, dependent man — get in their way.  Come back on a party night, and you’ll find many of these same girls (they stopped calling themselves “women” years ago) wielding their sexual power, dressed as provocatively as they dare, matching the guys drink for drink — and then hook-up for hook-up.

I’m sure they are making their parents proud. In case you missed the point, Bauer continued:

When they’re on their knees in front of a worked-up guy they just met at a party, they genuinely do feel powerful — sadistic, even.  After all, though they don’t stand up and walk away, they in principle could.  But the morning after, students routinely tell me, they are vulnerable to what I’ve come to call the “hook-up hangover.”  They’ll see the guy in the quad and cringe.  Or they’ll find themselves wishing in vain for more — if not for a prince (or a vampire, maybe) to sweep them off their feet, at least for the guy actually to have programmed their number into his cell phone the night before.  When the text doesn’t come, it’s off to the next party.

Feminism has succeeded in keeping women on their knees. It has duped them into thinking providing sexual services for “worked-up” guys they just met makes them powerful.

You can see why feminists are so upset with Susan Patton.