“Why does no one at Furman go on dates anymore?” This is a complaint that I constantly discuss with friends. At Furman, dating culture is here, but you have to search to find it – at least that has been the general consensus of students. For this article, I interviewed three of my friends and asked them to describe Furman’s dating culture and why they think it is the way it is. Their answers are very interesting to say the least.
All interviewees wanted to remain anonymous so I will label them as Interviewee A, Interviewee B, and Interviewee C. Let’s begin.
Interviewee A (Female): I feel like dating culture is completely lost at Furman. Guys don’t want to go on dates, so they offer Netflix & Chill as some sort of consolation. It kinda sucks because I thought my dating life would be thriving at Furman, but it is simply not. I have been asked out on maybe three dates during my time at Furman. I am a senior… but the amount of times I have been invited over to a guy’s apartment is ten times that amount. It is sad. I look off-campus for guys interested in dating life. I think it’s just like this because the guys are completely outnumbered so they have a lot of girls to choose from, so they don’t have to put in a lot of effort to find a girl to hook up with. I’m all for sex positivity, but it would be nice to go on a date first.
Interviewee B (Female): For me, I found my boyfriend out one night. It was not planned but he is all about taking me out on dates and being a gentleman. However, I will say that the guys before him were horrible and never asked me out on a date. It was always just about hooking up and that’s fine if you’re looking for that, but I am happy to have found a guy that likes to go on dates.
Interviewee C (Male): I think for me I am just not looking for anything serious and a lot of guys at Furman seem to have that mindset, too. But you know, you can’t generalize either gender, some people want to date, some just want to have a good time. I’m just going with the flow and seeing what happens. I think Furman just allows you to do whatever you want. Some people are engaged or married by senior year, others are virgins and that’s cool, too. It’s just about finding a balance and finding people who meet your needs.
I found these interviews to be very thought provoking. I feel like having more conversations about dating life, sex, and relationships could promote a good all around culture at Furman. Like Interviewee C said, you can find it all at Furman or you can focus on friendships and living your own best life single. I think because a lot of Furman’s culture revolves around hookups rather than dating, people sometimes feel pressured to do that. My best advice is to never feel pressured to do things in order to fit Furman’s culture around “dating,” rather do what feels comfortable for you and know that Furman is not the end all be all for finding romance.