Healthy Relationships Week Starts: Aims to Educate Students on Good Relationships

The life of a college student is hard enough with the endless amount of assignments and exhausting overnight cramming sessions, but knowing how to maintain positive and healthy relationships is a vital skill. With an MTV-show theme and the tagline “Rock Your Relationships,” George Mason University’s Sexual Assault Services is planning to host its annual weeklong Healthy Relationships Week all this week.

“Healthy Relationships Week is our chance during the year to celebrate [the positive aspects of] all healthy relationships,” said Rachel Lindsey, outreach coordinator for Mason’s Sexual Assault Services. “What we are hoping students to get out of this is that a good, healthy relationship is an amazing thing, and everyone deserves that.” Healthy Relationships Week will kick off with its first event, “True Life,” today in Student Union I’s Patriot’s Lounge from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The subject of discussion is relationships of all kinds, whether they be romantic or platonic, and the facts on what constitutes a happy and healthy relationship. There will also be T-shirts, games, candy and other activities. “Made” will take place at the Johnson Center Kiosk G from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow.

This event is focused on teaching others about self-respect and how to achieve it. There will be activities encouraging participants to celebrate healthy body images. Participants will also have the opportunity to celebrate their own successes and publicly give thanks to those who have been supportive along the way. The Mason Dating Game will take place in Eisenhower’s Multimedia Room from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and will enable students to pick out dates for their peers.

The event, hosted by the Office of Housing and Residence Life, will be set up so that pre-selected contestants will have an audience determine the right date for them. On Thursday, “Real World” will take place in SUB I’s Patriot’s Lounge from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., where students can learn about relationships, sex and hooking up. T-shirts, hook-up kits and other items will be handed out at the event. Other events include the popular show The Vagina Monologues, which will be making its appearance this year in Harris Theatre on Friday, Feb. 26 and Saturday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m., and also on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for the general public, $20 for Mason staff and $5 for Mason students. Tickets can be purchased by contacting Mason’s Center for the Arts. “I think [Healthy Relationships Week] is good because it helps some females move out from abusive cycles,” says Rubi Chavez, a senior administration of justice major.

Today through Wednesday, there will also be a “Great Dates” contest in which students submit ideas for fun and inexpensive dates accessible via Mason transportation. Submissions can be made at the JC Kiosk G. “I think any forum for dialogue about relationships is a good thing.

People are extremely complicated, so it’s important to overcome our preconceived ideas about others so we can learn and maintain harmony,” said Alex Tyson, a sophomore global affairs major. More information on Mason’s Sexual Assault Services, or on Healthy Relationships Week, can be found at their website sas.gmu.edu.