Male and female students from the University of Missouri-St. Louis came together Tuesday, Nov. 18 in the Pilot House for an evening of stimulating, sophisticated talk about male-female relations.
What they got from the Male vs. Female Summit was a heated, high-spirited battle of the sexes.
The moderators for the event were Jason Vasser, co-chair of the Black Leadership Organizing Council, and Stefanie Davis, senior, business management.
Vasser and Davis separated the room in half; the males sat on one side and the females opposite them.
In a question-answer format, love, dating, relationship drama and sex were among the topics discussed at the event.
Individuals wrote their questions on note cards and the moderators read the questions aloud to the side to which they were addressed.
Before the event began, it was clear the crowd was not going to waste any time before touching on the hottest of issues.
Members from each of the two sides asked the other questions ranging from "Why are guys never faithful?" to "What is a woman's definition of a perfect man?"
When asked what her definition of a perfect man was, Jenne Taylor, junior, psychology, said, "I believe there is no such thing as a perfect man.
"You have to find a man that has most of the qualities you want, and after you get him you work on the rest together," Taylor said.
The first question of the night was directed at the males, asking "Why is it so hard for a guy to trust a girl when she has male friends?"
Jeremy Ward, senior, philosophy, said, "If that male friend does not have a girlfriend, then he has only one objective. Why would you need a male friend? Confide in your man."
From there, the night got more interesting, especially when the discussion reached the subject of sex. One of the questions aimed at the women was, "Why do women need to wait?"
There was no clear, collective response to this, but the women seemed a bit confused as to why the men chose to ask that particular question.
At one point, the discussion even delved into specifics, such as the difference between a woman giving a man a side-hug and giving him a full-frontal hug.
The women all agreed that side-hugs were for guys they weren't interested in, whereas the full-frontal hugs were for the ones to whom they were attracted.
In response, David Petty, senior, theatre and dance, lightheartedly said, "Why have half a sandwich when you can have a whole one? Everybody needs a hug."
Despite students' various curiosities regarding the opposite sex, the males and females all seemed the most engaged when the discussion touched on the issue of love.
"Girls can get over love much better than dudes can," Rhemone Harris, junior, psychology, said
While there was a bit of ambiguity in the true meaning of love on both sides, the whole room agreed with applause when Davis said, "Both sexes need to come together in understanding what love is."
When asked what the first thing they looked at when they saw a man was, many of the females replied in synchrony, "Shoes!"
The male crowd responded to this with an air of confusion, and by the end of the night it was apparent that the men just did not get why women first looked at a man's shoes.
When asked whether she thought the two sides were beginning to understand each other, Davis smiled and said, "Not quite, I don't think it'll ever happen."
Although there were no clear conclusions reached on the differences between men and women, the Male vs. Female Summit brought students together to communicate with the opposite gender about various issues surrounding relationships.
Michael Nelson, freshman, communication, even said it was "really cool," and Taylor said the event was "very interesting."
At the end of the night both males and females stuck around for some post-event chatting, seemingly free of any of the night's earlier tensions.
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