The "donkey's" opinion!

Just how shallow and petty some of the people in this world are is something that I have come to accept. Just how shallow I am, is something that shocks me time and time again. I like to think of myself as somebody that is not easily influenced and as somebody that can distance herself from the chaos of peer pressure and the mob mentality that is ever present in the daily life of a first year. If this is true, then why did I just join the gym?

The type of wisdom and advice that many young girls are given as they enter the new and exciting chapter of University is simply,

“Do not get fat! Avoid first year spread at all costs!”

This advice has turned out to be somewhat paradoxical, as at first glance it seems absurd, but when implemented into the life of a first year, is actually very “fitting”.This type of advice is actually very useful if you don’t want to be one of the Jan Smuts boys’ “donkeys”, in the “donkey races” that take place in the Smuts Dining Hall. Where each boy (and not all boys participate, obviously) chooses a girl/ “donkey” and bets that she will be the one that falls victim to the “first-year spread bulge”. It is key if you do not want to be gossiped about behind your back and ridiculed for putting on a few kg’s. Because you just might be the girl that contributes to a Smuts boys drinking fund when he wins big at a day at the donkey races.This piece of advice is essential if you intend to adopt the party lifestyle where the issue of weight is taken even more seriously and in order to “lunge” and be “lunged”, you had better fit into that size 8 mini.

Some people have found a way to justify their sordid opinion on the phenomenon of “first-year spread” by saying, and I quote a conversation I had with a Rhodes boy and friend of mine earlier this year, “First-year spread is disgusting, it is not about the weight, it is about the fact that it shows that the girl isn’t taking care of herself, stomach rolls are disgusting, I could never be with a girl that had stomach rolls”. And yes, I did rethink my friendship with this particular boy and yes; he is going to have a hard time finding a girl with the perfect stomach he requires, especially with that attitude!
Despite the illusion that Rhodes is a place filled with diverse, weird and wonderful people that are non-judgemental, the fact of the matter is that “first-year spread” is taken very seriously on the Rhodes campus and it is unacceptable to most. If you want to avoid being ostracized,

I suggest that you avoid toast, become a gym freak, start counting calories and
invest in an eating disorder!

It is possible that if less emphasis was placed on weight, and people focused their attention less on vanity and more on reality, this world, and university, just might be a better place. But on that note, I had better be off to the gym…