<p>I keep reading about the strained and awkward gender relations at Notre Dame. I didn't see that when I visited the campus... there were guys and girls hanging out together in groups, and couples walking around holding hands. But I've seen a lot of students say that it's really awkward. I would think that most people come to ND with plenty of experience dating and being friends with the opposite sex... so what changes when they get to ND, and why? Or is the whole gender relations thing just blown out of proportion?</p>
<p>I did not see that, nor hear about that when my daughter was there. She had tons of guy friends all four years. I think what you hear sometimes harkens back to earlier days when the balance of girls/guys was way off. When girls were such a minority it was bound to make for awkward moments. Today, it seems like any other place. I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>
<p>I don’t think gender relations at ND are awkward at all. I had plenty of guy friends while I was there and met my current boyfriend there as well. I think sometimes outsiders may perceive it as awkward because you do occasionally see more single-sex groups around campus than you would at other schools. But these are usually dorm events or groups sitting in the dining hall with people they grabbed from their own dorm to head out for a quick meal (though usually these groups include at least a couple members of the opposite sex as well). I would say that most of the time, people hang out with mixed-gender groups and it isn’t awkward at all. There may be an exception in certain engineering fields where the gender ratio is still way off, but you are going to find that anywhere you go.</p>
<p>It’s only awkward when the university starts talking about gender relations or makes us watch videos on the subject. There are, of course, things like sexual assault, which you’ll find at nearly every university. That’s not so much awkward people as terrible people, and you’ll find a few of those anywhere.</p>
<p>There are a few rare gender-based rules at Notre Dame, but they don’t “strain” things. Parietals aren’t awkward, they’re just occasionally annoying, and single-gender dorms don’t strain gender relations, they just make for strong dorm identity.</p>
<p>Someone without many friends of the opposite gender would be a strange case, since the norm is to have plenty. Of course, you might end up with more friends of the opposite gender, since the real issue is often making friends of the same gender from other dorms. Most of my male friends are from my dorm; we have plenty of female friends, but it’s more like several groups of them, each from a different dorm. “The [dorm] guys/girls” is a common phrase for describing friend groups.</p>