The Brutality of "Corrective Rape"
The recent threads reporting the conviction of several rapists who targeted a Richmond, California lesbian serves as a reminder that for gays, the threat of being the target of homophobic violence always lurks just around the corner. For lesbians that violence can present itself in an especially brutal form known as "corrective rape".
There are places in this world where rape is supposed to be a "cure" for lesbianism, although gay men can also be the targets of corrective rape. The problem has been especially acute in South Africa though it can happen in any country, and does. This horrible, underreported crime has been largely ignored but last summer the New York Times published an article, "The Brutality of Corrective Rape". I highly recommend this report but be warned, it pulls no punches in its description of the brutality involved.
Violence against the LGBTI community is real. It is global. There can be NO excuse, whether cultural, religious or political, for the continued oppression of LGBTI persons. NONE. For many, it is a matter of life and death.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/07/26/opinion/26corrective-rape.html?_r=0
Warning: graphic descriptions of violence in this article, including sexual violence
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That's the question that's so damning and frustrating. Mankind creates it own "evils". It never ends. We can commit unspeakable horrors against one another and always find ways to justify it. Perhaps it's someone of a different faith, a different gender, a different race... why does it seem that we as a species are compelled to tear one another apart? How could ANYONE justify something like "corrective rape"?
Seriously, I sometimes wonder if we can evolve beyond our propensity for violence. 
I don't know what to say. 
forcible sex w/ a man is going to "cure" a lesbian of her attraction to women. 
Scary that there are people out there that "think" this way.
That disgusting comment is a paraphrase of all the remarks that are typically made here and elsewhere when a physically attractive female adult rapes 13 or 14 year old boys. "Why didn't I get raped when I was his age?" "Lucky guy, hehe."
When people talk about rape culture, 'corrective rape' is it - nothing more than an excuse to commit an act of violence.
Response to theHandpuppet (Original post)
