'Wooman, lovely wooman, what A Sex You Are'*
Remind me what century we are in, again? An admissions tutor at Cambridge University claims private schools are teaching women how to sit demurely to improve their chances at an Oxbridge interview.
This is particularly weird if they are applying to study his subject, which is clinical veterinary anatomy. Which I assume leads to working in a field in which elegance is not the prime requisite, being able to cope with sick animals and their bodily effluvia is the desideratum.
I can sort of see that possibly Today's Yoof, in an entirely gender-neutral sense, may need some pointers to appropriate interview conduct, as in, put your phone away and mute it, sit up straight and do not sprawl, try not to look as though you pulled on the first thing that came to hand when you dressed that morning... (surely men sprawling and slobbing in that situation is rather frowned on as well?)
But I am also aware of the distractive effect on women and their concentration on Matters of the Mind if they have to worry about their slip showing, are their seams straight, whether the sight of their well-turned ankle is distracting A Male - it's not as though there isn't enough around already without them worrying whether they would graduate from the Lucy Clayton School of Modelling with honours, where I believe one test was getting in and out of a sports car in a short skirt without flashing.
I'll be over here in a mismatched pair of blue stockings.
*The very creepy Mr Turveydroop, famed for his Deportment, Prince Regent fanboy, in Bleak House. Even Dickens thought this sort of approach a marker of creepdom. This entry was originally posted at http://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2250633.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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