|
South African rape epidemic
|
View this Thread in Original format
| Magnetonium |
One embarassment after another for South Africa.
I guess Brazil is nowhere close to South Africa when it comes to this problem.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8107039.stm
| quote: |
South African rape survey shock
Anti-rape protesters in South Africa
South Africa's government has been urged to solve the rape epidemic
One in four South African men questioned in a survey said they had raped someone and nearly half admitted having attacked more than one victim.
The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time while in their teens.
It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.
The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.
The research was conducted in both rural and urban areas and included all racial groups.
Using an electronic device to keep the results anonymous, the study found that 73% of respondents said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.
Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.
One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.
Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, told the BBC's World Today programme: "The absolute imperative is we have to change the underlying social attitudes that in a way have created a norm that coercing women into sex is on some level acceptable.
"We know that we have a higher prevalence of rape in South Africa than there is in other countries.
"And it's partly rooted in our incredibly disturbed past and the way that South African men over the centuries have been socialised into forms of masculinity that are predicated on the idea of being strong and tough and the use of force to assert dominance and control over women, as well as other men."
She added that all the victims in the main survey were said to be women, but participants were also interviewed about male rape.
'Sad state of affairs'
The study found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.
I don't think it's cultural per se; I think it has to do with how a lot of us men worldwide were raised
Mbuyiselo Botha
South African Men's Forum
Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.
The participants were also tested for HIV and the authors of the survey were surprised that men who had raped were not more likely to test positive for the virus.
Mbuyiselo Botha, from the South African Men's Forum, which campaigns for women's rights, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that any view of women as "fair game" had to be challenged.
Mr Botha, a father of two girls himself, said: "I think that yes, the figures are that high and for us, for me in particular, that is a very sad state of affairs.
"It means that we continue in South Africa to be one of the highest capitals of rape in the world.
"I don't think it's cultural per se; I think it has to do with how a lot of us men worldwide were raised. The issues of dominance against women, issues of inequality, are pervasive and you find them throughout the world."
South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country's rape epidemic.
A recent trade union report said a child was being raped in South Africa every three minutes with the vast majority of those cases going unreported. |
|
|
|
| Magnetonium |
Some interesting developments. Not too many guys like him in South Africa, thats for sure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8115219.stm
South African rapist: 'Forgive me'
| quote: |
Dumisani Rebombo and his friend raped a young girl in their village in South Africa when they were teenagers.
Years later, he returned to the same village to find the woman he attacked and begged for her forgiveness.
Mr Rebombo, 49, is one of thousands of men in South Africa who admit to having carried out a sexual assault - one in four, according to a recent survey.
He told BBC News why he feels so many young men in his homeland engage in the ill-treatment of women.
When I was 15 years old, I took part in a gang rape.
Before the incident, I was constantly jeered for not being man enough.
At the time I was not ready to have a girlfriend when all my friends did.
I did not tend the cattle or sheep, nor did I attend the initiation school [where South African teenagers are circumcised in traditional rites of passage].
This fuelled my daily jeers.
My friends sang and clapped as if we had done something right
Dumisani Rebombo
South African rape survey shock
A friend and my cousin pressured me to prove that I was man enough, by taking part in the rape of a teenage girl in the village.
This was termed "straightening her up", since she did not want to go out with any of the local boys.
I succumbed to this daily pressure and on the day of the incident, when they saw me trembling with fear, they ordered me to take marijuana and beer to defeat my fears.
I did just that and the two of us [my friend and I] proceeded to rape the girl.
Guilty and scared
Afterwards, I was terrified.
I felt guilty but also scared that the news could reach my mother who had a high standing in the community.
The following day, when we went for our soccer practice, this incident was reported to all the other football players.
Dumisani Rebombo
Dumisani Rebombo said he was prepared to face jail
On hearing the news, they sang and clapped as if we had done something right.
This helped to stop the jeering somewhat and I was allowed to associate with the other boys.
I still felt guilty, at least partially so, especially when I saw the girl in the village. Sometimes I tried to avoid meeting her.
But slowly, over time, I began to think less and less about the incident.
I left my village in Limpopo Province and went to live in the city and joined a religious group from which I learned a lot about love and respect for all.
Strangely, I did not think much of the incident - I just went on with my life.
I started work with an NGO (non-governmental organisation) where I mostly worked with unemployed mothers.
Every Monday morning, the women reported incidents of abuse in different forms.
Every time I heard of a negative act by a man, I was forced to go back to my own incident
Dumisani Rebombo
As they did this, I could not help it but give way to introspection.
It was as if every time I heard of a negative act by a man, I was forced to go back to my own incident.
I then asked my employers to train us in a methodology which would target boys and men.
They did this and very soon, I felt challenged, self-consciously, to set an example to the men I was teaching.
Seeking forgiveness
I took a decision to go back to find the woman I raped.
I realised that the woman needed justice.
But also, I wanted to ask for forgiveness, now that I understood the effects and consequences for someone who has been raped.
Anti-rape protesters in South Africa
South Africa's government has been urged to solve the rape epidemic
I went to my pastor about this. His response was: "You are saved now, you were once in the mud, but now you know the truth and you are therefore OK."
He also asked me if I was ready to go to jail. He said: "What if the woman went to the authorities?"
My answer was: "If I go to jail, that would be justice for that woman."
I therefore took the journey to the north.
I wanted her to know that I felt bad about what I had done to her, that I was a changed man and I was working with other men to prevent rape.
When we met, she showed a wry smile on her face.
Since we were at a public clinic, she thought I was a doctor or someone from the Ministry of Health.
I related my story to her. She looked at me and revealed that she had since been raped on two other occasions.
She told me how she often cringes when her husband touches her
Dumisani Rebombo
She started crying. She told me how she often cringes when her husband touches her.
She told me that her life was never the same emotionally following these incidents.
Worse still, she was not ready to tell her husband of what had happened.
Finally, she said that she forgave me, and thought that I had meant well with all that I had said.
I left that room with a new burden - to do something about rape in my community and my country.
Machismo feelings
If you asked me: "What motivates so many men in South Africa to engage in un-consensual sex?" I would say that it is the machismo feelings and beliefs, coupled with patriarchal processes and tendencies.
I think that we raise boys in the wrong way, but later on in their lives we want to see them as different men who care and love.
My advice to young men who feel under pressure to rape, is to surround yourselves with good friends.
Learn to talk to someone about what is going on inside.
For with this, one can teach the young men to have other means of solving conflict.
And above all, to grow up respecting girls.
Dumisani Rebombo is a community development worker and public speaker, working for the Olive Leaf Foundation, in Johannesburg. |
|
|
|
|
|
