Stereotypes do not define Duke women

Every other Thursday Sarah Hostetter is completely off base trying to define "life. or something like it." The only thing she's done is further contribute to the stereotype of Duke women in "our comfort zones of J. Crew cardigans and pearls"-neither of which I own.

In fact, these assumptions make me want to vomit like a sorority girl after lunch. (Sorry for continuing the onslaught of stereotypes, but they appear so frequently in The Chronicle, I'm sure you'll forgive me.)

Sarah, the 350 word limit on letters to the editor won't permit me to go into detail here, so I'll be brief: I hate to burst your bubble, but this isn't Seventeen Magazine.

You create a black-and-white world in which you polarize women as either whores or Disney Princesses. And I think it's clear what category you think most of your peers fall into. Were you even paying attention during "Mean Girls"? Because what we learned is that the real culprit of the slut stereotype is this girl-on-girl judgment. So this Halloween, maybe you should take an extra second and re-evaluate your role in this vicious cycle.

There are so many meaningful, clever and interesting things you could write about! Instead, you fulfill the stereotype you're fighting so hard to counter by writing these silly columns.

You're new to this. Therefore I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming column and hope that you are brave enough to break the mold you are so intent on examining. I look forward to reading it.

And if you can't find anything exciting to write about, I'm sure we'd LOVE to read another piece in The Chronicle about the Plaza!

If you need help, the Writing Studio is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, or you can call me up and we'll "share Diet Coke and girl talk." K, thanks!