What's a Meat Market?

Go to any sports gym between the hours of 3pm-6pm. What do you see? An overpacked room of people working out, stretching, sitting, and checking out the opposite sex. Being here at Southern Methodist University, the hours between 3pm-6pm are considered social hour. It's like the bar but on a Monday afternoon. I call it the "Happy Hour" of gym time. Right before sorority and fraternity chapters, it's poppin more than ever.

So who exactly do you see at the gym? Well first of you see the actual dedicated athletes. The people dedicated to their bodies, who know what they're doing on that treadmill, and how it affects their bodies. Then there's the people who are there with the goal to lose weight. They have determination in their eyes, they're sweating and the only goal on their mind is how they're going to look after their workout. Then there comes my favorite people. The sorority girls. The girls who wear makeup to the gym, hair preciously pulled back into a "messy" ponytail, short tight spandex, and of course their favorite sorority tee. Walking into the gym you see the room flooded with colors and phrases like "Crazy for Chi-O" and "Party with PiPhi." And the last group is the frat boys. These three hours to them are their golden hours. They walk around, slap each others hands, and bob their heads to their blaring rap music in their ears. They sit on the benches huffing and puffing as the check out the blonde who walks past them. They laugh, talk about what they're going to do that night. Oh yeah and they lift a 10 pound dumbbell some time in between... And for some reason are sweating as a result of it.

Sadly this is the sight almost every day at a college gym. As someone once told me, "It's a meat market." The guys are picking out which girl will be their next piece of meat, the next girl who they're going to "hook up" with. In a society run by looks and someone's physical appearance, this is the prime spot to find a mate. Unlike most girls think, boys are actually smart. They know where to go to find hot, barely clothed women. As gross as it sounds, it just goes to show how shallow our society is. Even a place to better yourself and become healthy has just become a "meat market."