Every Friday and Saturday night someone at St. Michael’s College is having sex. It could be a couple that’s been dating since freshman orientation, a pair of juniors who recently threw in an extra benefit to their friendship, or two strangers who met in the 300s townhouses and walked back to Alumni together.
By Sunday morning, the weekend’s encounters find their way into gossip over an omelette and tater-tots in Alliot.
Less of a topic on Sunday morning are the plenty of students who didn’t have sex, for a variety of reasons. What kind of relationship do students want or expect from someone who’s more than a friend?
To bust the myths on relationships, dating, and hookup culture, The Defender surveyed 233 students. Results illuminated the disconnect between students’ perceptions and statistical reality. Despite the number of unique individual situations, many people are having the similar core experiences. Here’s what you said.
Do people even date anymore?
Date (n.) An activity with one other person, off-campus, a mode of spending time together.
Hookup culture: What’s your number?
Hookup (n.) Any non-committed interaction with someone between kissing and sex. Different levels of sexual interaction equate to a “hookup” for different people. Think of experiences you’ve had in which you would tell a friend, “Yes, I hooked up with them.”
Have you had one of these relationships?
*The survey offered these defintions and students could select multiple answers. Only 2 percent did not relate to a definition.
