Loving Life

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Recommended: Twentieth Century: Sexual revolution

In the “The Gibson Girl Goes to College,” by historian Lynn D. Gordon, Gordon documents the trials of women in education through the 1890’s to the 1920’s. Gordon specifically focuses on college life, views on women, the effect of a college education, curriculum and their sexual revolution through this time.
Women experienced difficulties on campus in the late 1800’s. Though a co-ed university would admit them, they were not extended the same privileges as men were. They would not receive housing, the same financial assistance, medical support provided by the school, and many other things. Along with this men were known to ridicule the women attending classes, though since women didn’t make up much of the class size they mostly left them alone. As for the Womens Only Colleges, though they offered the above privileges the co-ed colleges didn’t, due to the belief of the college girl being “wild” these colleges were extraordinarily strict. College life for women in the 1890’s was not a very fun time. Along with how they were treated, how the public viewed them wasn’t much different.
Early on when women attended college it was believed that who studied the same as men would not be able to produce children. Though these facts would later to be found unproven, the belief held very strong in the 1890’s that a women who goes to college would have a hard time finding a husband, seeing as men didn’t like women who were smarter than them. And this subsequent inability to get married would lead to social and cultural isolation. Of course as we know today all these things would later prove untrue, these beliefs held strong in the 1890’s. But more then how they were treated and viewed in college, a big problem remained of what happened after.
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...s being said, marriage was still a big goal for all to live up to, the idea of multiple sexual partners in life was not something that was accepted still.
As 1920”s reach closer the status quo of the 1890’s appears to diminish. Women being in colleges was no longer an isolated things, campus were much more open to accepting female students into the campus life, women experience more equality in the work place, and still juggled between combining career and work or just picking one. The subject of marriage did not change however, it was still a very important thing, no matter how educated the women. The most important point to make about woman’s education during these 30 years is this, the fun loving Gibson girl who fit the perception of what a man believed a smart women to be, never existed.

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