First year female students are at more of a risk of contracting HIV than any other students at Rhodes.

HIV/ AIDS is a life threatening disease that has horrendous effects on both the victim and the immediate family. HIV/AIDS leads to the deterioration of ones quality of life and inevitably to death. Many students, namely females are falling victim to practicing unprotected sex due to ignorance, vulnerability, alcoholic influences and down right stupidity.

As a young naïve student embarking on the first steps of an independent lifestyle, I believe that first year students are more susceptible to contacting HIV as they are in the prime age of experimentation and everything is new and exciting as they are starting their lives as an ‘adult’. First year students have finally been loosened from their parents ‘apron strings’ and this freedom allows for both good and bad experiences as well as errors. To prove my belief, I evaluated a group of my friends on a random Wednesday night. This particular group of friends consists of six fifth year students, two fourth year students and four first year students, that includes myself. We all ended our night at Friars and were relatively inebriated, all four of us, first year students had what Rhodes likes to call, ‘naps’ and none of the fifth year students had even kissed anybody that night. I cannot help to think whether it is due to their generation having more values and morals than our generation? Or could it be that the first years are unable to handle their alcohol properly and this leads to a lapse in judgment?

First year females are more likely to contract the virus as HIV is transmitted more easily from male to female than from female to male (Burmaster, 2006). Thus, suggesting that women are at more of a risk because of the fact that young females generally have sexual intercourse with men who are older than themselves and therefore have more sexual partners. First year girls are more likely to be targets for older students at Rhodes as the boys participate in what they call “seal clubbing” which is when the older students, usually the men, get sexually involved with the first year students. Many first year students are not used to drinking alcohol in such large quantities that are consumed at Rhodes and this obstructs their decision making tactics and can lead to them being taken advantage of. Because men at Rhodes generally drink lighter drinks such as beer, it takes a lot longer for them to get drunk than it takes for girls as they drink alcohol with a higher alcoholic percentage and this may also lead to the females making bad decisions due to the influence of alcohol. On a night on the town in O-week I was so inebriated that I passed out in the gutter outside Friars and thank goodness an older male friend took me home and I did not partake in any sexual relations that could have lead to a sour outcome. When I awoke all I could think about was, “did I have sex or not,” and this is when you know that you have to be more responsible because if it was not for my friend, anything could have happened.

In the report of the Department of Health in South Africa, it states that “young adults are the fastest growing age group to be infected with HIV” and specifically female university students aged between 19-30 years. This is because they are at the height of their sexuality, they practice sex frequently and in most cases there are several different partners in a short span of time. The United Nations AIDS also released statistics recently that indicated that more than half of the HIV/AIDS infections that have been reported in 2007-2008 have been in 15-24 year olds (Knight, 2008).

I strongly believe that first year female students are at a greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS as they are usually associated with sexually involving themselves with older male students, making them more likely to the risk and because they are more vulnerable when drinking alcohol which can lead to unprotected sex.