A quarter of South African men admitted to rape: Why?

June 2009 results: Quarter of men in South Africa admit rape, survey finds: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun...

According to the article: "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.

South Africa is notorious for having one of the highest levels of rape in the world. Only a fraction are reported, and only a fraction of those lead to a conviction."

Why are there so many rapes, so little reported rapes and so little rape convictions? The researchers are surmising this: "We have a very, very high prevalence of rape in South Africa. I think it is down to ideas about masculinity based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men. It's rooted in an African ideal of manhood."

Is it rape or also a death sentence?

According to the article: "The study, which had British funding, also found that men who are physically violent towards women are twice as likely to be HIV-positive. They are also more likely to pay for sex and to not use condoms.

Any woman raped by a man over the age of 25 has a one in four chance of her attacker being HIV-positive."

Are men being raped too?

According to the study: "One in 10 men said they had been forced to have sex with another man. Many find it difficult to report such attacks to the police in subcultures where the concept of homosexuality is taboo."

Why the low conviction rate? May have something to do with the political leadership according to the article: "South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticized for failing to address the crisis. Only 7% of reported rapes are estimated to lead to a conviction. Jewkes said: "There's been a lot of concern about the way the criminal justice system works, because it's still woeful."

Before his election as president, Jacob Zuma stood trial for the rape of a family friend. His supporters demonstrated at the court house, verbally attacked his accuser and sang "burn the *****, burn the *****". Zuma was eventually acquitted."

What could be done? According to the article: "Anti-rape campaigners said the shocking figures demonstrated the need for reform. Dean Peacock, co-director of the Sonke Gender Justice project, said: "We need to make sure the criminal justice system is held to account. We have lots of discussion in this country, but not enough action is taken to ensure that perpetrators will face consequences."

Do you agree or disagree with the researchers? Why or Why not?

The researchers are guessing that the high level of men admitting to rape is because "Ideas about masculinity are based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men. It's rooted in an African ideal of manhood."

Yep. Welcome to the Rainbow Nation, where rape, murder and theft is on the menu everyday. As a citizen of South Africa myself, even I was shocked by those figures, but not by the survey itself; it's not for nothing that South African citizens sarcastically refer to SA as "the rape capitol of the world".

Of course, if I was an optimist (which I'm not), I would have said that the situation is slightly improving, since our sheep-elected government actually denied that violent crime was a reality until only very recently (among other things). But like I said, I'm not an optimist.

Jeees, that's bad.

The really sickening thing about this horror story, is that their rape conviction rate is actually higher than ours (7%). A woman over 25 who is raped has a 1 in 4 chance of contracting HIV. I just don't know what to say really....

South Africa has become an extremely violent country since the end of White rule.

I guess South Africa is a rapist paradise, if you are willing to take that one in 10 chance of being raped yourself.

Once a culture is crushed and its people diminished to almost non entities by usually white invaders, there is no true culture left when it is over. In Vietnam I saw the same violence, rape and abuse of the people from Americans when they found they were out of the restraints of their culture back home. I realized that bad people are in every culture and when the bonds of social order and cultural pressures are gone, all hell breaks loose. Doesn't matter what people, what culture, what religion. It is the human condition. I've seen security forces in Iraq shooting innocent people driving down the street and putting the murders to music and sending home the videos.

Africa is especially volatile after so many years of oppression and cultural collapse. The idea that manhood is based on how many women and girls one can impregnate is literally insane. After five years of age no female is safe. It is enough to break one's heart. But such is the world. It seems there will always be ignorance and stupidity en masse and one or two at a time break free and struggle for wisdom.

It didn't help any to have the health minister until recently claiming that AIDS can by cured with herbal tea.

Another couple of cultural sexual beliefs/practices that are still around: sex with a virgin will cure AIDS
and also "dry" sex is popular with men and leads to a greater rate of infection

Things should slowly improve with the new govt