Thursday 26 March 2009

I have no explanation for this..do you?

ARCH
Corrective Rape

The use of sexual assault to “cure” lesbians in South Africa.

In a disturbing report entitled “Hate Crimes: the rise of corrective rape in South Africa,” the NGO Action Aid 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.

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.

… Support groups say that 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.

4 comments:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

No. It is utterly senseless and cruel. Well done for drawing attention to it, Lady M.

BobG said...

Just a bunch of brute animals trying to rationalize their acts to others. Someone ought to "correct" their problem with a pair of rusty shears and a cauterizing iron.

Sparx said...

God, it is awful. I spent two months in Cape Town many moons ago. I met two women who had been gang raped; it sounds unstoppable. This is the same country where babies and small children are raped because men think it will cure them of AIDS. There's a big problem that seems to be being ignored.

lady macleod said...

welshcakes,
It's all we can do sometimes, but it feels like I'm doing something at least. Thank you for coming by.


BobG
I must admit your solution has its appeal...
Thank you for coming by.


Sparx
I know! So let us not ignore it.
Thank you for coming by.