Michigan State’s Independent Voice
The Love and Sex Edition
EXPLORING THE COMPLEXITIES BETWEEN ROMANTIC COMEDIES AND REAL LIFE By Lauren Coin lcoin@statenews.com Romantic comedies are simple, says film professor Rick Blackwood. Girl meets boy. They fall in love. They live happily ever after. Rea l l i fe, however, i s much more complicated — and entertaining. “I think real life is actually much more interesting than mov ies,” Black wood said. “Movies are controlled and contained in a way t hat the real world isn’t, and t hat complex it y it sel f is really fascinating.” Romantic comedies, or rom-coms, have char med audiences for decades. From characters’ outlandish displays of affection to the simply mundane ideas of two people falling in love. However, some students question if watching these types of movies has affected how they view their real-life relationships. “I feel like, if anything,
it’s more subconscious,” said digital storytelling sophomore Sarah Romain. “Just like growing up watching love stories that are really grand and, I guess, in a sense, kind of unrealistic, maybe that does sort of put expectations in my mind.” Yet, Romain believes these expectations might not be completely negative. “I also think that it can be inspiring,” Romain said. “Maybe if someone sees a movie, they’re more likely to tell someone how they feel or something.” Blackwood agrees. He said the relationships portrayed in romance movies can be something a person can strive for in real life. “They can be really good lear ning tools about t he complexity of relationships because one sees a relationship (t hat i s) probably muc h less complex than the one a person is actually in, and
LIFE
The orange and the olive theories Can relationship trends on TikTok gauge the health of your romantic relationship?
it gives you some idea of something to work towards,” Blackwood said. Journalism junior Karl Jensen questioned if romcoms perpetuate the idea of what is “cliché” or if t hey have an inverse influence.
PAGE 5
LIFE
Greater Lansing’s history of LGBTQ+ activism
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
East Lansing was the first municipality in the nation to enshrine protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation in hiring practices. See how the history of LGBTQ+ activism has been since then in Greater Lansing. PAGE 7
Illustration by Zachary Balcoff.
Students, experts speak to online dating nuances in the queer community By Hannah Locke hlocke@statenews.com Apps like Tinder and Hinge have taken dating to another level by providing users with almost immediate connections to potential partners. According to Mic higan State Universit y Psycholog y A ssociate Professor William Chopik, this has changed how people are making con nec t ions. Chopi k , a soc ia lp e r s o n a l it y p s y c h olo g i s t , h a s performed lots of research on decision making in dating apps. “I think, recently, online dating surpassed other ways that people meet online for the first time in decades, it’s
Illustration by Aryanna Dorsey.
T U ES DAY, M A RCH 19, 2024
@THESNEWS
STAT E N EWS.COM
been growing,” he said. “That’s how most people meet now, instead of say through friends or through work or through church.” These online apps can have positive impacts, such as connecting people who may not have otherwise met. However, they are also often tailored to heterosexual couples. “I definitely think that they favor more heteronormative values,” social work freshman Dakotah Sosnowski said. “I’ve had a really hard time trying to date people besides men (on dating apps).” Not only does the format of dating apps tend to favor heterosexual
relationships, but it also forces queer people to take a multitude of precautions when navigating these apps. Social Work Associate Professor Tina Timm, a sex therapist, spoke to the added obstacles that come with navigating dating apps as a member of the queer community. “Because there’s more things to navigate when you are in this app and dating as a sexual minority,” Timm said. “There are increased risks for both emotional and physical safety.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4