U of T’s assault counsellor, Cheryl Champagne, ran a survey at the February 9 Health Fair to suss out student opinions on dating and what, exactly, they think a “healthy relationship” is.
Good news: we passed. Mostly.
146 students who filled out her survey. Champagne said that to the statement “A healthy relationship is when you can be yourself and feel safe with someone,” 100 percent of respondents answered “true.”
“One surprise for me was that the majority of students knew that ‘You are more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone you know than [by] a stranger,'” Champagne told The Varsity. Champagne acknowledged that the survey was far from scientific, but said it was a good opportunity to shake up people’s ideas about relationships. “It raises some interesting questions around perceptions of jealousy and date rape and the need for continued education on campus,” said Champagne.
Fifty-three per cent of female respondents and 37 per cent of male respondents said they were in a relationship right now; slightly less than 40 percent of both sexes said they were “happy and comfortable” being single.
A multiple-choice question on why people’s most recent relationship broke up yielded some unexpected responses: 17 per cent of males said they broke it off because their parents did not or would not approve. Ten per cent of women broke up with someone because their partner had fooled around on them, but only 3 per cent of men broke up for that reason. And only two respondents checked the “I fooled around [on my ex]” option.
You know who you are.
