Dr. Sol Gordon held the floor last night at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel to discuss the complexities of love, sexuality and human relationships to an audience of about 100 students.

Gordon is a nationally acclaimed psychologist and author of several books dealing with love and relationships. He is at Penn State to receive an award from The Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy for his contributions to the field of sex education.

Gordon spoke as part of the 2004 Teen Pregnancy Prevention Conference, which started yesterday and continues today at the Penn Stater.

A graduate from the University of London, Gordon has been working in the field for almost 50 years and has appeared on such shows as Today and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Gordon addressed the audience of mostly students by talking about marriage.

"Most marriages don't work, so don't make the wrong choice, because it's very painful," he said. "Don't marry for love or sex; marry for friendship."

He then went on to explain the intricacies of love.

"If you think you're in love at first sight, then I'd advise you to take another look," Gordon said. "Love is blind, so open up your eyes."

Gordon spoke to the audience about his beliefs on the current "love mythologies."

"Men are from Mars, women are from Venus is so stupid," he said. "We need egalitarian relationships."

Gordon also tackled subjects such as religious differences in marriage, as well as same-sex marriages.

"Love in same-sex relationships is just the same as love in heterosexual relationships," he said. "I see no reason to differentiate between the two, because they are both just about two people who love each other."

Dr. Patricia Koch, professor of biobehavioral health, offered the conference as an extra credit opportunity to her classes.

"Dr. Gordon talks about love in relationships," she said. "That's a topic seldom dealt with in students' courses, but it's an important one in our lives."

Megan Burke (junior-biobehavioral health) attended the conference as part of the extra credit opportunity and brought along her boyfriend, Josh Boose (sophomore-nutrition).

Burke said she discovered a new point of view on relationships and love.

"I never thought of all the aspects of love," Burke said. "I thought [Gordon] was very informative, and it was interesting to hear new perspectives."

Boose said he appreciated Gordon's liveliness and anecdotes.

"I thought he was very entertaining and extremely funny and nonchalant," he said.