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One in four South African men questioned in a survey said they had raped someone, and nearly half of them admitted more than one attack.
The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape had attacked for the first time during their teens.
It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.
The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.
The research was conducted in both rural and urban areas and included all racial groups.
Using an electronic device to keep the results anonymous, the study found that 73% of those who admitted rape said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.
Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.
One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.
Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, told the BBC's World Today programme: "The absolute imperative is we have to change the underlying social attitudes that in a way have created a norm that coercing women into sex is on some level acceptable.
"We know that we have a higher prevalence of rape in South Africa than there is in other countries.
"And it's partly rooted in our incredibly disturbed past and the way that South African men over the centuries have been socialised into forms of masculinity that are predicated on the idea of being strong and tough and the use of force to assert dominance and control over women, as well as other men."
She added that all the victims in the main survey were said to be women, but participants were also interviewed about male rape.
'Sad state of affairs'
The study found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.
Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.
The participants were also tested for HIV and the authors of the survey were surprised that men who had raped were not more likely to test positive for the virus.
Mbuyiselo Botha, from the South African Men's Forum, which campaigns for women's rights, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that any view of women as "fair game" had to be challenged.
Mr Botha, a father of two girls himself, said: "I think that yes, the figures are that high and for us, for me in particular, that is a very sad state of affairs.
"It means that we continue in South Africa to be one of the highest capitals of rape in the world.
"I don't think it's cultural per se; I think it has to do with how a lot of us men worldwide were raised. The issues of dominance against women, issues of inequality, are pervasive and you find them throughout the world."
South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country's rape epidemic.
A recent trade union report said a child was being raped in South Africa every three minutes with the vast majority of those cases going unreported. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8107039.stm
What do you think should be done? | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 6/20/2009 8:09:11 AM | If there is an actual law against rape,....then they need to be prosecuted, to the full extent of their law,....
and if their laws are insufficient,...then they need to introduce and pass laws against it,....
To me the most horrific thing is that they believe that any man who is positive for HIV, will be cured by passing the illness onto a child under 2,....the idea of raping a child still in diapers,.... is to me beyond forgivable,....  | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 7/14/2009 10:01:53 AM | Tonight, July 14th, 2009, PBS will premiere The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court. This documentary film was produced by Skylight Pictures who collaborated with AIUSA (Amnesty International USA) in the 2007 documentary entitled Justice Without Borders.
This documentary is primarily focused in Darfur where rape to children and women is rampant. Mass rapes, murders, mutilations and starvation are often treated as the tragic and inevitable consequences of war, instead of crimes which are planned — which actually require planning to implement on a mass scale — and for which specific individuals are responsible and can be held accountable.
The Reckoning follows the ICC’s (International Criminal Court) Prosecutor as he and his team confront the most challenging of armed conflict situations, compiling evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in order to build cases against leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, militia leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the President of Sudan. | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 7/14/2009 1:45:44 PM | I have talked face to face with several woemen who have endured this and survived,....
How can any of our petty complaints come even close to what they have lived through?
I'm ashamed to even think of what I thought was tough,....If it were up to me I'd say bring them all here,...God knows we have enough room here in Canada,.....
Now that would be doing something,...... | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 7/14/2009 8:27:37 PM | I agree Marita. It's atrocious and heartbreaking.
Where did you hear from this women face-to-face? Have you talked to any adults that were children growing up in this environment? Are you involved with any human rights organizations?
Lots of questions...you can e-mail if you'd like!
Did you watch the show on the ICC? It boggles my mind that US is not a member and shares this opinion with Russia and China.
Peace....
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 8/10/2009 7:49:31 PM | I was dealing with few south african women, and i have to admit that they are very promiscuous. Not only my experience shows that, but also my other friends told me the same. So looks like most of them (not every one) are like that.
That provokes rapes. Plus poverty. | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 8/11/2009 2:51:50 AM |
I was dealing with few south african women, and i have to admit that they are very promiscuous. Not only my experience shows that, but also my other friends told me the same. So looks like most of them (not every one) are like that.
That provokes rapes. Plus poverty.
So, what does that say about the children they rape? Are they promiscuous too? What about the male children they kidnap and force to become "child soldiers"? Are they bullies that deserve it?
If you'd like to educate yourself a great book to read is Tears from the Desert by Halima Bashir. Tell me after reading this book if the women and children deserve to be raped and if it has anything to do with poverty.
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 8/11/2009 8:09:47 AM | Rape,....is NEVER a sexual act,...
it is an act of violence and therefor no one no matter how permiscuous they may appear or actually behave can provoke rape,..
They can provoke a sexual response,....but not rape,....E V E R!!!! | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 8/31/2009 1:15:41 PM | Wow, this is quite disconcerting. I never understood rape as being sexually motivated, lets face it some one not wanting you, rejection in other words is not normally a turn on. So I always figured rape as an anomoly, a small pervcentage of men who for some reason get turned on by power rather than most who get turned on by the fact a woman wants them.
But 1 in 4? Thats a pretty high percentage of the population. | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 9/2/2009 12:35:18 AM |
I was dealing with few south african women, and i have to admit that they are very promiscuous. Not only my experience shows that, but also my other friends told me the same. So looks like most of them (not every one) are like that.
That provokes rapes. Plus poverty.
Me thinks you confuse your moralistic ideals with reality.
Promiscuity is not the cause poverty nor rape.
Poverty is most often directly caused by the opposite extreme. In a finite world with finite resources if one person is allowed to hoard others will be without. Further poverty is inflicted on people purposefully in order to make them more easily exploited so that the dominant class can continue to ride their back making themselves richer.
More likely the cause of the rape issue, is the purposeful break down of their traditional culture due to colonialism, severe trauma imposed by the violence and dehumanization of the people during the oppressive regimes that made these people suffer for a very long time.. This kind of stuff leaves horrific lasting effects that, just don't go away over night. There is also the education factor which goes back to loss of culture, and purposefully not educating the people by the old regime, with regard to the hiv issues.. When people do not know what causes the illness nor how to treat it they will begin to suppose things that might sounds insane to others.
They purposefully did not educate many of the people so as to keep them down making them easier to exploit and making it harder for them to organize and fight back.
People need to understand that when you strip away a peoples traditional culture and try to force your foreign religion and way of life on people it also has severe ill effects. I have seen this in more than just the African experience. There are plenty of people whom study this phenomenon and write about it. If you are really interested in the subject why not study up on it a bit?
Humans are highly sexual creatures, and thus have the propensity to be rather promiscuous by nature no matter if they chose to act upon that instinct or not.
It is not till you throw violence and other issues of control/dominance into the equation that you start to get rape as an epidemic.
Let's look at it what might be a simpler way for me to get the point across...
If, you have a culture that comes in to your country and brutally attempts to constantly dominate and dehumanize your people. That also, purposefully destroys your culture, and purposefully forces you to live in poverty and makes every possible attempt to keep your people dumbed down. There is likely going to be some severe effects most especially on the males of your group. It can set the stage for some of these males to act out in kind on others so as, to get some sense of no longer feeling emasculated.
Rape is most often not a sexual act. It is an act of domination and control. They are not just seeking sexual gratification they are seeking to have power/control/domination over someone. It is going to take generations to begin to correct the disastrous effects of colonialism and Apartheid. It will take the work of people whom know how to work with these kinds of issues be they, traditional healers, therapists, or other people trained or talented in some way with dealing with the types of issues that are causing this to occur.
A legal system might be able to offer some protection in some instances but, to be honest with how wide spread the problem is and the likely causes, the legal system might actually make matters worse. One has to take into account these people have been brutalized by an institutional nightmare. Sending them from one to another is likely not going to help. They need strong healers, not just jails. | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 9/2/2009 11:20:42 AM | Poster 3,
The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court.
The Reckoning follows the ICC’s (International Criminal Court) Prosecutor as he and his team confront the most challenging of armed conflict situations, compiling evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in order to build cases against leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, militia leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the President of Sudan.
I note you’re championing the ICC, like yourself I also believe that the ICC is a platform for good and a posse of law for rogue/unlawful evil doers in 21st century. The ICC has jurisdiction over four groups of serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. These are the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Some member states are also lobbying for terrorism, drug trafficking and the use of WMD to be added to the list of crimes that the ICC can adjudicate and impose punishments on.
The two most stand-out nations not to sign and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court are the USA and Israel.
President Clinton signed the ICC Treaty in 2000, stating that he agreed with the proposed role and aims of the ICC but needed to reassess the implications of the Treaty against the US Constitution before he would ratify it. In 2002 President Bush withdrew Clinton’s signature stating that the US would never recognise the ICC. Since his election President Obama has signalled an end to US hostility towards the ICC, but no formal policy to sign and ratify the Treaty has as yet surfaced.
Israel remains non-committal fearing, the ICC will force the issue of illegal Israeli settlements on lands the UN had mandated to be Palestinian - disputes over definitions of terrorism could find and place Israel itself under the scrutiny of the ICC - Israel has no say or sway in the appointment of ICC Judges or for there ever being an Israeli Judge appointed and lastly - Israel feels that the far reaching powers of the ICC would be open to abuse against Israel. All amazingly recalcitrant, but surprising statements from a country whose citizens are supposed to have suffered more than most in hostilities where there was no ICC. Thus Israel will not ratify the ICC Treaty.
Given that your own country the USA does not recognise the ICC and the US’s overall influence over many nations, via threatening denial of future weapons and financial aid, in order to deny the ICC interventional jurisdiction for the US’s own political reasons, how do you perceive the ICC as a force for good and of one to contend with in the 21st century?
For instance the ICC is presently investigating the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan on the recommendation and consent of the UNSC, but the US has “veto powers” in the UNSC and so if for its own political reasons the US decided to exercise its veto, the ICC would have been denied jurisdiction. This also applies to the other permanent members of the UNSC.
It’s just that I feel that the ICC should not be shackled to the political whims of the very influential powers as at some point that influence will be abused. | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 9/3/2009 5:09:29 AM | RE Msg: 6 by maxxnyc:
I was dealing with few south african women, and i have to admit that they are very promiscuous. Not only my experience shows that, but also my other friends told me the same. So looks like most of them (not every one) are like that.
That provokes rapes. Plus poverty. maxxnyc, I was watching a programme on TV the other day. It was about African men who were watching porn in a group, using a generator. They said that when they watch porn, it makes them want to have sex with women, and if they don't have someone to have sex with, they go out and rape someone.
This wasn't someone claiming that this was what some African men do. This is what some African men said THEY do, that these men actually said THEY have gone out and raped women because they watched porn. Sick, eh? It's true. Doesn't make it any less sick. | |
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| South African rape survey shock
Posted: 9/3/2009 10:08:55 AM | | The ICC sounds like a good organization, standing up for the poor against the inhumanity of those who oppress them. | |
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