By Tom Parsons ’15
Photo Courtesy of Kira Sabin
Today marks the end of the spectacle that is, Sex Week: five days filled with lectures, chair dancing lessons, condom bingo andmonologues about the vagina. And out of all of those exciting festivities, I will be discussing perhaps the most exhilarating topic of them all – Monday’s lecture on college relationships.
The title of the lecture was “Technology + Love = Complicated” and it was about exactly what you would think. Dating makeover coach Kira Sabin covered topics regarding college relationships in today’s technology driven world. The lecture was regarding what she viewed as the main and most serious problems with relationships at colleges today as well as Lafayette specifically.
Sabin said, “I actually talked to some of the people from Lafayette first and discussed what they thought were some of the main concerns about this campus and that they think people really want to hear about.” She did seem to reach this goal. Many of the relationship issues that I have seen around campus were addressed along with proposed solutions to such problems.
“After working with interns and hearing their and their friends’ stories about how much confusion and anger and frustration they were having, I took this on as my own revolution to help change the world of college dating and help end that frustration,” Sabin said. Through her talk, she definitely made a healthy contribution toward ending this romantic strife.
She displayed a rare understanding of college relationships that the audience seemed to easily connect with. When describing how girls overreact to texts, there was much laughter from the audience. Sabin went on to describe how it is unnecessary for us to overanalyze such trivial things and that a simple phone call could be the solution to misguided frustration. In spite of this, she showed sympathy to this generational problem by explaining that we are the first group of people that have to deal with such technological aggravation.
What Sabin considered the most important take-away from her lecture is that, “Whatever you’re complaining about starts with you. There’s nothing that you can do to change the other person’s behavior, fix them or hope that it works. If something’s not working, you have to figure out what you’re doing and how you can change. And if it’s not working, then you need to find something that works for you.” Hearing this advice seemed to resonate with a lot of the people in attendance.
As with any performance, there were a few drawbacks. Tim Gaziano ’15 commented, “I thought it was humorous and entertaining but that it placed too much blame for failed relationships on women.”
In addition, there was some awkwardness during the Q & A when people shared their personal relationship grievances. Sabin eventually had to explain, “We can’t go into a therapy session right now.” Instead, she made herself available to further discuss the ins and outs of relationships after the lecture, which a sizable group of people took advantage of.
Overall, the talk was well received. Kira Sabin’s lecture was eye-opening and brought up some very significant concerns regarding this school’s dating world. If Lafayette ever decides to bring her back, I would suggest stopping by. Even if you do not find it incredibly helpful, at the very least, you will get a free t-shirt.
