When a high school graduate first sets foot in a university the experience of being away from their family often results in a much anticipated liberation family constraints and restricting school rules. Rhodes University is a prime example of this, as most of the students applying to the University are applicants wanting to study away from home. The idea of being free from one’s family and having to take more responsibility in life can be quite challenging for anyone, let alone a young, naïve first year. There is a sudden exposure to legal drinking without parental consent as well as having to manage some form of budget. This, if we have to be honest, is not easy to do, seeing as most of us use our parent’s pharmacy account for everything but medication.
Freedom and the usual high school life orientation classes about peer pressure, drugs and alcohol are accompanied by yet another taboo: unprotected sex. Despite having sex talk after sex talk, first years at Rhodes are generally blatantly naïve when it comes to protected sex. According to sites such as www.netdoctor.co.uk/sex_relationships/facts/safesex.htm. After speaking to several of my friends at Rhodes, I am aware that this is a generalisation, but that being said, there are those who really should think about enrolling for condom-application classes at SHARC. Perhaps a possible solution to this problem lies in a single word: abstinence – or as my sleep-deprived friend once said at 05:00 after pulling an all-nighter; “Isn’t Amnesty, like, when you don’t have sex and stuff?” I know the guy was tired, but it’s remarks like that make you think that maybe Rhodes students need a refresher course (and this guy is a 3rd year, believe it or not).
What annoys me the most that people are choosing to remain blissfully ignorant about the fact that HIV/Aids has no face. There are organisations on campus (like SHARC) that make a point of covering issues such as unprotected sex and the dangers that follow. The organisation even goes the extra mile to teach first years how to put a condom on a wooden phallus. For crying out loud guys, the concept is not that hard. Yes I know you or your partner is on the Pill, but last time I checked, HIV/Aids is not immune to a little white pill. The Rhodes calendar even caters for national Aids week – remember that long red carpet outside the library? That was not there for decoration. And there are not enough condoms missing from the free condom box in the res bathrooms to even cover ten percent of the girls in my res. So unless you are relying on your boyfriend’s condom box girls, you might want to pop past.
If you’re too shy to ask for a condom demo, check out sites such as www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Put-on-a-Condom/, where you can learn the ropes from the privacy of your own room. What scares me the most is; if it’s not desperate pregnant girls actually queuing for those dodgy abortion signs stuck up around town, then it’s the complete lack of HIV positive people NOT queuing up at the San for an HIV test.
Freedom and the usual high school life orientation classes about peer pressure, drugs and alcohol are accompanied by yet another taboo: unprotected sex. Despite having sex talk after sex talk, first years at Rhodes are generally blatantly naïve when it comes to protected sex. According to sites such as www.netdoctor.co.uk/sex_relationships/facts/safesex.htm. After speaking to several of my friends at Rhodes, I am aware that this is a generalisation, but that being said, there are those who really should think about enrolling for condom-application classes at SHARC. Perhaps a possible solution to this problem lies in a single word: abstinence – or as my sleep-deprived friend once said at 05:00 after pulling an all-nighter; “Isn’t Amnesty, like, when you don’t have sex and stuff?” I know the guy was tired, but it’s remarks like that make you think that maybe Rhodes students need a refresher course (and this guy is a 3rd year, believe it or not).
What annoys me the most that people are choosing to remain blissfully ignorant about the fact that HIV/Aids has no face. There are organisations on campus (like SHARC) that make a point of covering issues such as unprotected sex and the dangers that follow. The organisation even goes the extra mile to teach first years how to put a condom on a wooden phallus. For crying out loud guys, the concept is not that hard. Yes I know you or your partner is on the Pill, but last time I checked, HIV/Aids is not immune to a little white pill. The Rhodes calendar even caters for national Aids week – remember that long red carpet outside the library? That was not there for decoration. And there are not enough condoms missing from the free condom box in the res bathrooms to even cover ten percent of the girls in my res. So unless you are relying on your boyfriend’s condom box girls, you might want to pop past.
If you’re too shy to ask for a condom demo, check out sites such as www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Put-on-a-Condom/, where you can learn the ropes from the privacy of your own room. What scares me the most is; if it’s not desperate pregnant girls actually queuing for those dodgy abortion signs stuck up around town, then it’s the complete lack of HIV positive people NOT queuing up at the San for an HIV test.
