Rape in South Africa

I heard something earlier about one in four South African men admitting they have committed rape, many of them more than once. And gang rape is considered a form of "male bonding". While trying to find something on the Net about it, I came across this

Lesbian women in South Africa are being raped by men who believe it will “cure” them of their sexual orientation, according to a shocking new report by ActionAid.

Women in townships in Johannesburg and Cape Town are reporting a rising tide of brutal homophobic attacks and murders and the widespread use of “corrective” rape as a form of punishment.
In South Africa, no woman is safe from violence. The country’s war against its women continues unabated, with an estimated 500,000 rapes, hundreds of murders and countless beatings inflicted every year. For every 25 men accused of rape in South Africa, 24 walk free.

This shameful record has resulted in an increasingly brutal and oppressive culture of male violence, in which women are forced to conform or suffer the consequences.

As part of this oppression, the country is now witnessing a backlash of crimes targeted specifically at lesbian women, who are perceived as representing a direct threat to a male-dominated society.

”Corrective” rape survivors interviewed by ActionAid for the report Hate Crimes: the rise of corrective rape in South Africa, said that verbal abuse from their attackers before and during the rape included them “teaching us a lesson” and “showing us how to be real women and what a real man tasted like.” The research was carried out in conjunction with ActionAid partners People Opposed to Women Abuse (POWA), Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP).

Isn't it absolutely outrageous? In this day and age, there are still places where men think it's reasonable to do something like this?

There are a lot of things wrong with this country, but my goodness there are a lot worse places in the world we could live.

I'm amazed we haven't heard about this before. The papers often talk about the mistreatment of women in Muslim countries, but this is just as bad.

It would be slightly more understandable if there was no TV, no internet, etc because it could be claimed that these types of countries didn't realise there was a different way of dealing with things, and that's why they live in the dark ages.

Yeah, I agree Lou, I must admit I had no inkling of this.

Straight women who have been raped take so long to get over it, some of them never enjoy sex again. And these idiots honestly believe that raping a gay woman will make her like men? How do you reason with that kind of logic?

I think that's the typical mentality of a lot of homo phobics though, I've heard women say 'one night with me, and I'd soon turn him'

Although most people wouldn't even dream of forcing themselves onto anyone.

Oh the more I think about it, the angrier I get.