CORRECTIVE RAPE’ ON THE RISE IN SA
girlfriend. (Photo: Jodi Bieber/ActionAid)
Lesbians in South Africa continue to be 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.
”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.”
Support groups say that a shameful record of violence against women has resulted in an increasingly brutal and oppressive culture, in which women are forced to conform or suffer the consequences.
South Africa 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.
Rape is fast becoming the most widespread hate crime targeted against gay women in townships across South Africa. One lesbian and gay support group says it is dealing with 10 new cases of lesbian women being targeted for ‘corrective” rape every week in Cape Town alone.
Laura Turquet, ActionAid’s women’s rights coordinator, said: “So-called ‘corrective’ rape is yet another grotesque manifestation of violence against women, the most widespread human rights violation in the world today. These crimes continue unabated and with impunity, while governments simply turn a blind eye.”
“We get insults every day, beatings if we walk alone. You are constantly reminded that you deserve to be raped…”
Thirty one lesbian women have been reported murdered in homophobic attacks since 1998. But support groups stress that because hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised in the South African criminal justice system, the actual number of women killed is likely to be much higher.
The murderers are walking free. Of the 31 cases, only two have ever made it to the South African courts and there has been only one conviction.
Tsidi, a hate crime survivor from Cape Town said: “Here in South Africa you have judges sending women to jail for stealing a loaf of bread to feed her baby, but men who gang rape women, who murder lesbians… they walk the streets as free men”.
South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, guaranteeing the rights of gay and lesbian people. However, the South African legal system has not caught up. Hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised by South African law and the courts refuse to recognise that it plays any part in these cases. The police are reluctant to investigate hate crimes against lesbian women and there is inadequate support for the survivors.
One lesbian woman said: “We get insults every day, beatings if we walk alone. You are constantly reminded that… you deserve to be raped. They yell, ‘if I rape you then you will go straight’, that you will buy skirts and start to cook because you will have learnt how to be a real woman.”
“It is clear that the South African government must put a stop to these crimes against women and fulfil the promises of the constitution. Worldwide, it is utterly unacceptable that millions of women and girls live daily in fear of their lives. The international community have a duty to address violence against women as the most serious threat to security in the world today,” Turquet said.
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.
The research was carried out in conjunction with the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) and ActionAid partners People Opposed to Women Abuse (POWA), and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
Read the report here (PDF format).
Alive with possibility. This is just further confirmation that the South African public at large is backward, violent and dangerous. Every time I see one of those ridiculous “alive with possibility” propaganda pieces I am sickened. South Africa needs to stand up and acknowledge that we are not the nation we are slowly bulshitting ourselves into believing we are. South Africa: land of rape, murder, assault, racism, oppression of the poor, deliberate sub-standard education deigned to keep the ignorant just that. The challenges facing lesbians in townships is endemic of a far greater problem in our society. Freedom has ben won – what is to be done with this new-found freedom?
The sad state of our country. Gosh this is a topic that touches every fibre of my being. It’s heart breaking that nothing gets done with these hate crimes. I wonder as much as the men rape us and say they are teaching us to be real women are they saying real women are there for their sexual fulfilment? And since they are teaching us to be real women does that mean they are real men? Real men go around raping innocent women? In that case then it’s pointless for me to be “cured” of my sexuality because being with a real man it would equal the same result…being raped. And the issue of the government doing something about it, unfortunately we do live in a male dominated country and world and as we have a polygamist president who isn’t ashamed of his behaviour it is hard to expect him to stand up against his fellow men and demand justice.
It’s our fight and more of us need to stand up as one for our voices to be heard. this is a hard fight because it’s also a human rights issue but straight women don’t feel affected by this. It hurts because as long as it doesn’t happen to you or affect you directly, you will not be bothered.