Students grabbed free succulent T-shirts with the phrase “Love Shouldn’t Hurt” and swarmed around buckets of colored dye Friday.
Sexual Trauma/Interpersonal Violence Education was holding its annual Healthy Relationships Fair on the Plaza of the Americas from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where students earned the cactus T-shirts. The event was created to educate students about healthy relationships and teach them about resources to pursue safe relationships, said Marie McGrath, a STRIVE lead peer educator.
Students could earn stamps by visiting tables where partner organizations, like the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and University Police’s Office of Victim Services, distributed information on healthy relationships. After six stamps, students traded their card in for the T-shirt and the chance to tie-dye it.
McGrath said each of STRIVE’S 12 partner organizations displayed different messages unique to their group. She said the STRIVE table was focused on pop culture’s message about relationships.
McGrath, a 25-year-old UF poetry graduate student, said pop culture reinforces the idea that a good and exciting romantic relationship needs to be turbulent and filled with jealousy, which she said is incorrect.
“When in reality, if you are honest and open with your partner, and you communicate your feelings, that’s what a healthy relationship looks like,” McGrath said.
STRIVE taught students the four main components to a healthy relationship are honesty, communication, trust and respect, McGrath said.
According to a survey from 2014, 11 percent of UF students reported having been involved in a violent relationship, McGrath said.
McGrath said the goal of STRIVE’s fair was to bring awareness to the fact unhealthy, violent relationships happen on college campuses and to empower students to take action against them.
Lauren Day, a UF psychology and education junior, said it was important for students to attend the fair.
“We don’t really realize how many resources we have here at UF and in the Gainesville community,” the 20-year-old said. “There are people that are here for you if you are in a bad relationship, and they want to help.”
Marie McGrath, a STRIVE lead peer educator, tells students about the fair’s T-shirts. “We had this idea for the cactus shirt, because a) succulents are so hot right now,” McGrath said. “Also, you can have prickly feelings, but that doesn’t mean you have to hurt your partner.”
