By Alex Nassiri
Valentine’s Day has a very specific meaning for most people. For some it’s a time for love, for other’s it’s a time for loneliness, and for others still it’s a day to remember how our capitalist society is utilizing human emotion as a marketing tool to sell our packaged feelings back to us at retail. All bitterness aside, for The Eyeopener’s Love & Sex issue, the paper thought it could get some good laughs and perhaps troubling insights by conducting a little survey on the love lives of Ryerson students.
In total we had just shy of 100 surveys completed, and while this is in no way meant to be a complete study, I did my best to search the campus to find a variety of students. So without further ado, let’s get to the facts.
To begin, the survey was split about 55 per cent female to 45 per cent male, the average age was 21, and about 90 per cent of respondents were straight, and the remaining 10 per cent gay.
Perhaps because of the winter cold, only 38 per cent said they were currently in a relationship, and most of these were long term relationships; 56 per cent were relationships of more than a year. The 62 per cent not romantically involved defended their status with the claim that they have yet to find anyone they liked (49 per cent), that they were socially awkward (25 per cent seems a little low to me), or they had no time (16 per cent lame).
Some of this could be due to what people find most attractive: appearance. 50 per cent of those surveyed chose either looks as the sole quality that turns them on or ranked it the most important quality. Personality came in second with 35 per cent, and barely making it to third place was intelligence with 10 per cent.
In terms of relationships, 84 per cent said they were considering marriage later in life, with the remaining 16 per cent had no plans for marriage — as one partcipant put it: “Alimony sucks”.
With all that relationship business out of the way, it’s time to get down to what people really want to know about: sex and how Ryerson students have it. 80 per cent of the students surveyed claimed to have lost their virginity, with the remaining 20 per cent split just about evenly between avoiding the nasty because of religion/waiting for marriage and because they didn’t know anyone they wanted to sleep with.
The average respondent lost his or her virginity at 17, the oldest was 24, and the youngest was 13 (and there I was, playing road hockey). Only 28 per cent fessed up to cheating on their lovers at some time, and 58 per cent were honest with their lover about it afterwards.
When questioned about favourite sexual positions “Missionary” and “Her on Top” tied for first, while “Doggy Style” was third. Several students claimed “The Ryerson” to be their favourite sex position, and while I’m sure it’s easy enough to imagine what this could possibly be, after questioning several people it seems the actual maneuver is not well known.
We also decided to ask students about the most adventurous place where they’ve had sex. While there were some unsurprising answers (i.e. In the car, parent’s bed, etc.), several parts of Ryerson are now tainted in my mind including the Dean’s Office apparently. The top of the CN Tower is actually a hot spot for young love.
So there you have it folks, everything you ever wanted to know about the love lives of your fellow students and more.
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