When Susan Patton, better known as the "Princeton Mom," is not writing books or telling ladies how best to live their lives, she's apparently protecting the name of her alma mater, Princeton University.
Patton rose to fame when she called on Princeton's female undergraduates to find a husband by the time they graduate. Thanks to an email thread that The Huffington Post was shown, we can guess how concerned she is with Princeton's reputation.
On Thursday, Princeton alum Parinda Wanitwat emailed her fellow graduates in New York about a short documentary she's producing about "sugar daddy-sugar baby dating" in New York City:
The project tells the stories of 5 highly-educated, intelligent women (two of them are Princetonians'11) who have tried dating 'sugar daddies'. The documentary aims to de-stereotype and raise social awareness about this viable money-making option that is more common than most of us realize. Are transactional relationships necessarily bad/unethical?
I'm going to launch the project on Kickstarter in a week, but before I'm launching it to the public, I would love to hear any feedbacks on the trailer that I just finished. If the trailer intrigues you at all, please sign up on the site to be notified when the film is coming out.
Wanitwat asked to "hear any thoughts you may have," and "Susan Patton '77" had one to share.
Patton wrote back:
This is disgraceful. You're calling them sugar babies? They are prostitutes.
How awful that Princeton's name is attached to this.
Patton, who thinks date rape is "a fallacy," isn't current on the divorce statistics she cites, isn't very well liked by Princeton faculty and suggests teens get plastic surgery before college, seems to have a knack for sparking debate. She also seems unaware that not all sugar babies have sex with their sugar daddies -- some just provide companionship -- though sex often happens.
Patton did not immediately respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment.
One alum tried to defend Wanitwat, replying:
This list does not exist for fellow Tigers to censor others or to be self righteous; it is a networking site and a fellow alum is seeking honest feedback not knee-jerk reaction. If you do not wish to help anyone; then the delete button is there for you. Parinda is entitled to tell the story and to choose her title. She is telling a story that deserves to be told.
Another alum responded:
It seems to be you that's attempting to squelching an exchange of views. Parinda is entitled to tell her story, and she's asking for honest input. I hardly think she's too fragile to withstand a different point of view.
A third wrote:
Well said, Steve. The people on this list who are shaming women and calling them whores are the real feminists.
At that point, the email thread became a back-and-forth over who was shaming whom, all seemingly kick-started by Patton, author and professional pot-stirrer.