Princeton Mom's Offensive Advice in New Book 'Marry Smart': Focus on Marriage, Not Academics
A woman known as the "Princeton Mom" has offended a great deal of people with her advice in the new book, "Marry Smart." Susan Patton, aka "Princeton Mom," encourages young women to go to college and spent a significant amount of time finding a husband, and says that rape is "all on" the victim if she's too drunk.
"College-age women should multitask while they're on campus," Patton said during an interview on "Today." "Work will wait. Your fertility won't. So yes, I'm saying, double down. Spend 75 percent of time planning your personal happiness, putting in place the things you need to ensure you reach your personal goals. My advice is for women who know what they want, that part of their life goal is to have children in a traditional marriage. You're not getting any younger, you have to get to this, you have to plan for it."
Patton is a Princeton alum and has two sons who also graduated from the school. She became famous for writing a letter to her alma mater suggesting that women worry less about academics and more about finding a husband. It was advice that set of a frenzy of debate and led to a book deal for Patton, who expands upon her advice in her book.
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"If you spend the first 10 years out of college focused entirely on building your career, when you finally get around to looking for a husband you'll be in your 30s, competing with women in their 20s. That's not a competition in which you're likely to fare well," Patton wrote in her letter entitled "A Little Valentine's Day Straight Talk."
In more controversial advice, Patton takes on the problem of date rape on college campuses.
"It's all on them to not put themselves in a position where they are vulnerable to being abused or mistreated by a man," she said in the interview. "You can't allow yourself to be so drunk or stoned that you can't get up and walk out if you feel like, 'Whoa, this is going in a way that I'm not happy with,' or if you're feeling threatened. Please spare me your 'Blaming the victim' outrage."
