<p>My daughter is at Mount Holyoke, and I had to drag her to look at it initially. While she is indeed a feminist, she is as “mainstream” as they come, and was not looking for a women’s college. She shared, to a degree, some of your concerns. After touring many schools, she just couldn’t deny that the Sisters are fantastic, exceptional institutions of higher learning where girls go after high school and grow into fabulous women! </p>
<p>She did experience a little culture shock at first–especially with the gender language to which you refer, although nobody was ever confrontational about it. The campus culture is definitely PC (as most excellent liberal arts colleges will be), and there are a few occasions on which students are asked to indicate their “preferred gender pronoun”. She learned to value these experiences as true education–a genuine broadening of her world, and she had never sought a college culture that would feel as homogenous as high school anyway. </p>
<p>She has all kinds of friends, including some “in your face” feminist lesbians who are wonderful, kind people who embrace her for who she is. Mount Holyoke is extremely diverse- in every possible way, and the students are VERY accepting of each other. Many different religions are represented there, and appear to be central to many students’ lives. It is a wonderful place, and she is getting a top-notch education.</p>