How Does BU Date, Anyway?
Campus-wide survey asks about love, sex
A recent New York Times story titled “The End of Courtship?” made waves when it reported on something most college students already know: dating these days is often extremely casual, it is initiated by either sex, and it is very confusing. How confusing? The Times story drew comments from more than 400 readers, defending, dissing, or explaining the new order.
BU has its own dating culture, one that is complicated by an out-of-whack female-to-male ratio: last year there were 9,935 women undergrads and 6,689 men. How do things work? What do BU men want? What do women want? What’s it like to date on campus if you’re gay, bisexual, or transgender?
BU Today will publish its own report on dating at BU on Valentine’s Day, and we’ll do a much better job if readers help out by filling out the informal survey above.
Answers will be completely anonymous. The survey will appear on BU Today every day this week, and findings will be published on February 14, with student reactions and comments.
Questions? Thoughts? Post them in the comments section below.
Having problems seeing the survey? Try taking it here.
Editor’s note: Several readers have objected to the language used in this survey, asserting that we should have included “other” as its own category under gender identity and sexual identity. Hoping to include all students in the survey, BU Today sought input from several groups and individuals on campus, some of whom suggested using language recommended by Civil Liberties and Public Policy. We ran that language past a representative from the BU Center for Gender, Sexuality & Activism, who considered the wording inclusive. In the interest of expediency, we chose to create one box for students who were either cisgender, transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming, or variant. We appreciate the feedback, which will inform our reporting in the future.
Comments & Discussion
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