Difficult Dialogue: Love and Relationship

Feb. 27, 2019-Alpha Phi Alpha hosted their own Difficult Dialogue in the A-LAB Study Abroad space. The crowd was moderately populated with students across all grade levels, most students being upperclassmen. However, there were still a diverse range of students, with one student approaching the topic from a Christian perspective and other students talking about it from a feminist perspective.

The discussion topic: Love, Sex and Relationships.

The discussion started at around 7 p.m. and continued until 8 p.m. Before the dialogue, participants were provided with food from Zaxby’s to allow a brief minute for students to think about answers. After eating, the official talk began around 7:15 with the question, “Does colorism affect the black community and your own personal preference?” Students were given about two minutes to think about their answers.

Many responses for this question was yes, with students replying that it was because of social background and stereotypes between races.

However, as the discussion continued, the talk became more diverse in subject matter.

A difficult question that was asked was “What effect does cisgenderism have on traditional dating?” This was a very powerful question because there were some in the audience that did not the definition of cisgenderism and this was an opportunity for educate those that were not familiar with associated with the LGBTQ community. The answers ranged greatly and led to another discussion about whether the sexual identity of the person an individual is dating should be revealed and does the answer affect the relationship.

Another difficult question was whether partners should “love” their significant other “like they love their boss.” This sparked an important debate about what true love really is and how lovers should not have to pretend with each other if the love between them is authentic.

The Difficult Dialogue on Wednesday was informative, enlightening and even challenging for students as they considered and thought about the one question the debate was based around: What is Love?