Linda Leclair Analysis

I'd like to know why Barnard College was so harsh to Linda LeClair. Yes, I know she lied to them, but she just wanted to live off campus and do her own thing. Why is that wrong? Plus, when she was confronted she openly told them her real name and that she lived off campus. “After five hours of deliberation, the committee announced that as punishment for deceiving the administration about where she lived, LeClair would be ‘denied the privilege of using the following college facilities: the snack bar, the cafeteria, and the James Room,’ a student lounge” (Collins 150). I do not think this punishment is fair. I think the committee should have made LeClair move back on campus, but check in with her every once in awhile. There was no need to not allow her to use the snack bar and cafeteria, where she can eat. That is wrong to me, and the college took this way out of proportion. I noticed the double standards set for the girls at Barnard College, and really everywhere during this time period. “Colleges had always given their unspoken endorsement to the double standard by setting far stricter regulations in girls’ dormitories” (Collins 151). This annoys me. Girls and guys should have the same curfew and rules. Even today, people are more
protective over girls than guys, and people are always making excuses for how a boy acts, but if a girl misbehaves there is some sort of punishment. I wish people would treat girls just as guys would be treated and not give boys the easy way out.
I'm surprised that Helen Gurley Brown actually went through with her book. I think it is great that she did actually go through with Sex and the Single Girl, but I can't really imagine how people would have reacted. During this time all any girl cared about was finding a husband, then settling down with a family. Brown publishing this book, about how sleeping with a married man is fun and not a big deal, especially during this time frame probably shocked many people. If it was okay for guys to sleep with anyone whenever they wanted, then why couldn't women? “It also became one of those books that define an era. Whether Gurley Brown converted large numbers of people to a new way of thinking or simply announced a change that was already well under way, she captured the mood of the moment” (Collins 155). I think Brown opened a new perspective for many women, and this lead to a major change for women.
If I were a woman living in a time where birth control was against the law, I would be furious.
I'm really shocked that birth control was so frowned upon. If girls are going to have sex freely, and have something to keep them from getting pregnant, then what is the big deal. Society at that time frowned upon single mothers, but then some states take away the right to prevent getting pregnant. You just can't win. “The most draconian was in Connecticut, where anyone convicted of using, buying, or helping someone acquire a birth control device could be fined or sentenced to up to a year in prison” (Collins 159). Going to jail for taking birth control, or helping someone get it is crazy. What in the world were people thinking back
then.
I'm not sure how I feel about men name calling girls if they won't sleep with them. To me that's kind of ridiculous and rude. The girl saying no and refusing, has some self respect and the boys need to respect that. “Of course, if sex was all about sharing, anyone who refused to share was seen, in some quarters, as selfish or repressed or both” (Collins 177). Being called selfish for not sharing a part of yourself with someone you might not even know is a little strange to me. Like I said earlier, at least you respect yourself a little and have some pride in saying no. Personally, that makes me mad because it is a part of you and you shouldn't have to share it with someone if you don't want to, it's your body.