Even though times are changing, a recent study says people still highly value love.

In a study conducted at the University of Minnesota, researchers found that “traditional” relationship values are still evident in today’s dating scene. Sociology Professors Ann Meier, Kathleen Hull and Ph.D. applicant Timothy Ortyl published the study in Aug. 2009.

The survey analyzed relationship values based on both sexual identity and gender. Utilizing data from the National Longitude Study of Adolescent Health, the professors used survey results from 18-28 year olds.

Overall, the study found that gays, lesbians and bisexuals held similar relationship values as straight men, while heterosexual women valued more conventional relationships. Though differences existed between participants, the study showed that all couples, regardless of gender or sexuality, desire romantic love in their relationship.

A large amount of participants agreed that love, faithfulness and lifelong commitment were all necessary for an effective relationship.

“There are very few differences between straight and sexual minority young adults, [which are] gays, lesbians and bisexuals,” said Ann Meier, University of Minnesota sociology professor. “Where differences do exist, they indicate that straight women are the most enthusiastic supporters of these values compared to all others including straight men and all sexual minorities.”

The study aimed to pinpoint cultural changes and their effects.

“Like many people, we are interested in what appears to be in the changing nature of relationships: more people get divorced, more people cohabit with a partner before or instead of getting married and same-sex couples are fighting for marriage, and winning in a few states,” Meier said. “With all of this change, we thought young people might not think things like love, faithfulness or commitment were all that important anymore.”

Respondents were asked to identify their race, gender and sexual identity as straight, bisexual or homosexual. Participants evaluated relationship standards based on how important certain elements are for a successful marriage or a serious committed relationship. Survey-takers rated five variables on a scale of one to 10: the same race, money, love, faithfulness and commitment.

“I think when it comes down to it we all want the same thing,” said UC Davis sophomore Jessie Ely, an undeclared humanities major who identifies herself as straight. “I think that everyone is looking for the same thing in a partner that isn’t determined by their sexuality, but rather their innate desires.”

In the study, researchers found small, yet important differences in young people’s relationship desires according to their gender and sexual identity. About 9 percent of all participants said large sums of money were not important to them and 50 percent said it was very important. Sexual minorities – gay, lesbian and bisexual – however, were substantially less likely to value financial aspects in their partner.

“The only difference I can think of is in regards to gender expectations, like who asks who out or who should pay for dinner, aren’t usually important in the gay dating world since obviously both individuals are of the same gender,” said sophomore biological sciences major Alyssa Ladner, who identifies herself as lesbian.

The study also found that among straight individuals, women rated faithfulness and lifelong commitment higher than men did. Sexual minorities valued these two traits slightly less than heterosexual women, but relatively the same as heterosexual men. While 86 percent of all respondents claimed that love was an extremely important factor, heterosexual woman valued it the most. Lesbian women were found to rate love slightly lower than gay men and lifelong commitment as less important than straight men.

“The lack of differences in the responses of gays and lesbians may be due to the fact that both groups share the legal obstacle to marriage – marriage tends to reinforce different gender norms, but if marriage is off the table, these gender differences may not exist,” Meier said in a University of Minnesota news release.

Further analysis will evaluate how gender and sexual identity applies to people’s views on their relationships. Future research may examine the effects that race and class have on a relationship. Researchers also recommended a large group of individuals of various ages, cultures and geographical locations to determine how legality issues affect couple’s relationships.

“Whether you prefer your own sex or the opposite as a partner, we’re all for the most part just looking for someone who makes us feel special,” Ladner said. “I think it has less to do with one’s sexual orientation and more to do with personality. Everyone is unique and we therefore may value different things in a partner based on that.”

SAMANTHA BOSIO can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

The hustle and bustle of daily life often makes it easy to forget to read the fine print these days.

On Oct. 11 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 340, which requires businesses to clearly and specifically state the terms of automatic renewal offers and to obtain customer consent at the time of purchase.

Authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), the new law demands that businesses provide consumers with a straightforward and cost effective cancellation policy. Companies are also prohibited from advertising products as “free” if the item is only distributed as part of an automatic renewal agreement.

“The onus should not fall on the consumer to stop unfair charges,” Yee said in a press release. “SB 340 provides common sense protections for consumers and will help stop these unscrupulous and predatory practices.”

An increasing number of consumers are struggling with misleading offers known as automatic renewals of merchandise and services. In a typical scenario, shoppers believe they made a one-time purchase or signed up to receive a free product. Consumers then continue to recieve more deliveries of the merchandise, while incurring additional charges to their credit cards. Many consumers fail to notice the agreements – written in the fine print of their order – they unknowingly make while shopping.

The Consumer Federation of California, an organization that works to protect consumers from this type of fraud, supports SB 340. “The law basically curbs a type of deceptive advertising that we’ve encountered,” said the Consumer Federation of California’s Executive Director Richard Holober. “It places limitations on how you get lured into a subscription without really knowing what’s happening.”

Other consumer agencies strongly support the law, like the California Alliance for Consumer Protection and California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG).

The new law is a result of a 2006 multi-state lawsuit that was filed against Time magazine. Twenty-three states inspected Time after consumers criticized the corporation for charging their credit cards for unsolicited magazine subscriptions. Initially, Time enforced an automatic renewal program that required subscribers to officially cancel their order if they wanted to discontinue.

After further investigation, the states discovered that Time’s terms forced many consumers to pay for unwanted magazines. Time paid consumers over $4.3 million in refunds, as well as $4.5 million to the 23 states for investigation fees.

Antivirus software companies like Symantec and McAfee have also been accused of charging customers software subscription renewal fees without their knowledge. The businesses paid the New York Attorney General’s office $375,000 in fines to reconcile the charges in June 2009.

With McAfee issuing automatic renewals in 2001 and Symantec in 2005, the companies would have customers pay upfront for a yearlong subscription and then automatically charge them to renew for the next year.

Students are particularly vulnerable to consumer fraud, according to the Consumer Federation of California. Young people often have a problem with automatic renewals for cosmetics advertised on TV and magazine trial offers.

“One of the examples that I use frequently is the acne treatment, Proactive Solutions,” said Senator Yee’s legislative aide, Kirstin Wallerstedt. “If you watch the commercials, it says its only $19.95, but then at the bottom of the screen in small print it says ‘auto delivery included’. What the company means by this is that they will continue to charge you $19.95 a month until you cancel.”

Match.com, a popular online dating service, also has had consumer complaints regarding automatic renewals. The service offers a six month free trial period, but some users complained that once their free service comes to an end, they continue to get charged monthly.

With the new bill requiring businesses to reiterate their terms more clearly , Wallerstedt feels this is an effective solution to fraudulent automatic renewals.

“Just be aware that there is a lot of fine print to everything you purchase,” Wallerstedt said. “Senator Yee would recommend students read the contract terms and find the relevant sections to make sure you are signing up for exactly what you want. In the real world it’s really about trial and error and we are trying to avoid this for the future.”

The law goes into effect Dec. 1, 2010.

SAMANTHA BOSIO can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

The Davis Human Relations Commission is conducting a survey to gain better understanding of diversity and discrimination experiences in Davis.

The report will help the commission promote diversity and address discrimination issues in Davis, according to Kelly Stachowicz, staff liaison of the Davis Human Relations Commission.

The brief and anonymous survey will reveal if members of the community, including UC Davis students, have experienced discrimination in Davis.

Survey-takers rate to what degree they feel diversity is encouraged in Davis, identify where they have experienced discrimination and specify the type of discrimination they encountered, if any. The options include discrimination against age, ethnicity, race, gender, physical appearance, religion, sexual orientation, physical/mental disabilities and/or income.

Stachowicz believes the updated report is vital to encourage diversity and prevent discrimination because Davis is a college town.

“Students, faculty and staff come from diverse backgrounds and traditions to UC Davis,” Stachowicz said.

UC Davis’ Cross-Cultural Center aims to foster exchanges of cultures and promote diversity by openness, said Johnathen Duran, a CCC intern.

The CCC has taken steps toward eliminating discrimination by having a gender neutral restroom instead of separate male and female restrooms, which they say promotes equality and diversity.

“Sexism is an issue,” Duran said. “Boys and girls are divided into separate categories as if we are not all human. It’s not good to divide people based on physical attributes.”

Duran said UC Davis promotes diversity with the various organizations that have people of different cultures and genders, but still has not reached complete diversity.

UC Davis does not meet the land-grant institution mission that reflects the demographics of California, Duran said. The percentage of Latinos and African-Americans is not equitable to the percentage seen throughout the state.

Nonetheless, the Davis Joint Unified School District is attempting to deter discrimination in its schools. They are addressing the achievement gap of students of color who score lower on standardized tests compared to Caucasian and Asian students, Stachowicz said.

The survey will help the commission see if the city is doing enough to prevent discrimination.

The International House welcomes diversity and can help prevent discrimination.

“We promote respect and appreciation for all people and cultures and encourage a global community by providing many opportunities for multicultural interactions and exchange,” said Elisabeth Sherwin, executive director of the International House.

The commission distributed the survey to affordable housing complexes and to senior centers in Davis with the hope that more residents will take the survey. The commission will also have a Spanish version available soon, according to Stachowicz.

The city will work with the locations where people have felt discriminated against by providing information and education on how to address discrimination, says Stachowicz.

To participate in the survey visit cityofdavis.org.

HELEN TREJO can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

Thanks to a grant, Yolo County will have the resources it needs to supervise its sex offenders on probation.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors accepted $259,075 from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Recovery Act. The funding is available from Oct. 1, 2009 to Sept. 20, 2010, and will provide increased community supervision of offenders convicted of sexual assault in Yolo County. The grant will also increase support for their victims.

The grant will increase the Probation Office’s budget by the same $259,075 for this period. An additional 25 percent match of $86,358 will come from salaries, benefits and other indirect costs.

As a result, three deputy officer positions will be protected from lay-off or elimination. These officers will supervise probationers convicted of sexual assault and support their victims.

“We try to do some outreach [for victims] and make sure they are engaged in available local services,” said Yolo County interim chief probation officer Marjorie Rist. “We track them down, make sure they know whether the offender is in the community or not.”

There are currently 3,400 adults on probation in Yolo County, which is 1.7 percent of the population. Eighty-five of these inidviduals were convicted of sexual assault. This statistic is higher than other counties of similar population size. Yolo County has 29 percent more sex offenders on probation than the next largest county, according to a 2008 report by the Chief Probation Officers of California.

“Despite this high caseload, Yolo has very few supervision resources,” the staff report said.

Without the grant, there would only be one officer to supervise approximately 100 offenders.

“[The funding] is capping caseloads at 35 per officer and that is considered intensive supervision,” Rist said.

The grant money will increase the Probation Budget by $195,643 for the 2009-10 budget.

POOJA KUMAR can be reached at city@theaggie.org.