Thursday, June 18, 2009

1 in 4 South African Men admit to Rape?

Seen on The Root!

-The interviewed were a representative sample of 1,738 men in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

-28% said they had raped a woman or girl, and 3% said they had raped a man or boy.

Almost 50% who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once, with 73% saying they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.

-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.


Given the population of South Africa, I'm wondering how accurate this is. 1,700 men is not exactly representative. That said, it is indeed troubling to see the age at with these rapists are starting. There was not a discussion of the belief that sex with a virgin (or being urinated on by a virgin) was a cure for AIDS and how this may be driving some of those numbers.

The original article at the Mail and Guardian had this comment:


"We hear men saying, 'If Jacob Zuma can have many wives, I can have many girlfriends.'


To those men: Wives are not girlfriends. If you're going to live the polygamous lifestyle, understand that you have to wife the woman and you have an obligation to provide for all of them AND the children. The women are not disposable. If you cannot do what is required then you're not a man.