The essence of Vassar is mythic. Today, despite much competition, it still figures in the public mind as the archetypal woman's college. [...] It signifies a certain je ne sais quoi; a whiff of luxury and the ineffable; plain thinking and high living. [...] For different people, in fact, at different periods, Vassar can stand for whatever is felt to be wrong with the modern female: humanism, atheism, Communism, short skirts, cigarettes, psychiatry, votes for women, free love, intellectualism. Pre-eminently among American college women, the Vassar girl is thought of as carrying a banner. The inscription on it varies with the era or with the ideas of the beholder and in the final sense does not matter - the flushed cheek and tensed arm are what count. (Mary McCarthy)

The essence of Vassar is mythic. Today, despite much competition, it still figures in the public mind as the archetypal woman's college. [...] It signifies a certain je ne sais quoi; a whiff of luxury and the ineffable; plain thinking and high living. [...] For different people, in fact, at different periods, Vassar can stand for whatever is felt to be wrong with the modern female: humanism, atheism, Communism, short skirts, cigarettes, psychiatry, votes for women, free love, intellectualism. Pre-eminently among American college women, the Vassar girl is thought of as carrying a banner. The inscription on it varies with the era or with the ideas of the beholder and in the final sense does not matter - the flushed cheek and tensed arm are what count.

Mary McCarthy

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american arm atheism banner beholder carrying certain cheek college communism competition count despite different era essence fact felt female final free girl women high humanism inscription intellectualism living love luxury matter mind modern people plain psychiatry public sense short stand thought thinking whatever whiff wrong today sais

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