Tackling South Africa's rape epidemic

[Forkboy]

The trial of three of the men accused of the rape and murder of one of South Africa's leading sportswomen, the openly gay football star Eudy Simalane, resumes in South Africa on Wednesday.

Thirty-one lesbian women have been reported raped and murdered in homophobic attacks in South Africa since 1998.

But according to Triangle - a gay rights organisation - only two cases of "corrective rape" have ever made it to the courts; there has been only one conviction.

"This is a sad fact in this country generally, women are very reluctant to come forward," says Sharon Cox from Triangle.

"Corrective rape" is the term used to describe the rape of a lesbian woman by a man to either punish her, or "correct" her behaviour.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8171874.stm

Isn't this just an awesome world we live in?

[maglatinavi]

1. rape in Africa

It is beyond comprehension... Brutality at its worst ... but, no justice???

[Christa]

2. As an ex-South African

I can only say the violence in South Africa is out of control. The rape rate is 50% - you have a 50% chance of getting raped regardless of age, race, gender or sexual orientation.

It is a well know fact that many of the indigenous people of South Africa believe having sex with a virgin is the cure all for the Aids virus, so babies of a few days or a few weeks old are raped (which almost every time results in death).

[Leftist Agitator]

3. "The rape rate is 50%"

I call bullshit. Do you have a source for this nonsense?

[imdjh]

5. In this article one in three women reported being raped in the last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/258446.stm

[Christa]

7. I have this:

In South Africa in 2006 there were
close 55 000 reported rape cases. There are an estimated 450 000 rape cases that go unreported. Here is some more
statistical information on rape worldwide. Rape is an occurrence which, according to official statistics
occurred approximately 16,000 times annually during the 1980s. By 2006 the official figure for rape was over 55 000 ,
unofficially, based on the premise put forward by the National Institute of Crime Rehabilitation that only one in twenty
rapes are reported, the figure is over 494,000 a year.

This means that on average approximately one thousand three
hundred women can be expected to be raped a day in South Africa.A study by Interpol, the international police agency,
has revealed that South Africa leads the world in rapes. A woman was raped in South Africa every 17 seconds. This did
not include the number of child rape victims. It was estimated that one in every two women would be raped. Between 28
and 30 percent of adolescents reported that their first sexual encounter was forced. Of South African men who knew
somebody who had been raped, 16 percent believed that the rape survivor had enjoyed the experience and had asked
for it. According to a recent study police estimated that only one in 36 rape cases was reported and of those only 15
percent culminated in a conviction.

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:J8HC4-kZa1cJ:www.rape.co.za/index2.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26do_pdf%3D1%26id%3D875+rape+statistics+in+south+africa&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Also this:

One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country's endemic culture of sexual violence.

Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.

A report published by the trade union Solidarity earlier this month said that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, with 88% of rapes going unreported. It found that levels of child abuse in South Africa are increasing rapidly.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/17/south-africa-rape-survey

[imdjh]

4. I don't think you can accurately calculate a likelihood of being raped but you can get good guess.

You can calculate the incidence of rape.

Given the stratification of society, a reported 50% incidence of rape would more likely translate to a 100% chance of being raped if you don't have the status and means to protect yourself.

Even so, if we had rape stats (or any violent crime) like this in any US state, it would be declared under martial law.

Explaining this as some kind of deeply rooted cultural problem which needs to be understood to be tackled always has a bit of a smell of excuse.

South Africa needs to declare martial law.

[joeybee12]

6. Awesome is not the word I'd use....

...I sure as heck hope we are not the end product of evolution, because it certainly failed.