As I conducted a research on a topic to blog about today, I noticed that there was one common topic on all the websites I visited; RAPE.
"A woman in SA", according to the BBC, "has a greater chance of being raped, than learning how to read!" According to Childline, a child support group, "One in four girls faces the prospect of being raped before the age of 16". SA also has one of the highest HIV/AIDS cases and one of the highest domestic and child abuse cases in the world.
A 2009 Time.com article revealed a horrifying truth in SA. 25% of SA men admitted to having raped someone in their lifetime and 46% of this group admitted to having raped more than one person! The article stated that the research conducted by SA's Medical Research Council revealed that rape and many other types of violence against women in SA was a way the uneducated and poor men assessed their power and superiority. The article went further to state that 36,190 rape cases were reported between April and December 2007. I wonder how many went unreported and how many rapists went unpunished! The number has probably doubled between 2007 and now, 2011.
Even the President, Jacob Zuma had his fair share of rape accusations in 2006, while he was running for Presidency to which he pleaded not guilty. Also, in 2001 it was reported that a 9 month old baby of a teenage mother was gang raped by a group of men between the ages of 24 and 66. These are just two of the millions of horrifying rape cases in SA.
Could it be that SA has one the highest HIV/AIDs victims because of the alarming high rates of rape cases? In my opinion there is a huge relationship between the two, crime and diseases. The SA government has realized that rape is a growing problem and has promised to deal with the issue, however rape cases have not received as much attention as needed to be able to curb the problem. SA is generally still a male-dominated society, therefore are focused on issues that affect males more than issues that affect females and children.
I agree I think this issue of rape is not know of enough by people outside the country. I think the president should really step up how he is handling rape cases in his country. Even though this is a male dominated country for the most part, it should not mean that it is a country devoid of law.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic that you might want to expand on because everything is cause and effect. There are strong correlations, not always direct causes, but even correlated events have a huge impact. I don't think that rape is talked about enough as an effect of the oppression of people. If men are uneducated and poor, couldn't that be the effect of government's role in the economy and welfare? And then the HIV/AIDS issue.
ReplyDeleteYour hypothesis is a great place to start: "Could it be that SA has one of the highest HIV/AIDs counts because of rape?" How do we curb perceived inferiority within one out of every 4 poor men so that they won't rape? What happens to the women in society who have been raped, who now also have a sense of inferiority since they didn't have control over what happened to them?
Then again, what other countries have had this problem and how do they deal with it? I think it could be easily said that the United States has this problem, but again, it is not talked about. Too sensitive of an issue can prevent laws from being passed and authorities taking action, but what is best for the country overall? Great post! Way to point out the issues!
This is a very sad article. Rape leaves all kinds of psychological effects on the victim that will last for their entire life. Put on top of that the fact that South Africa is an extremely poor country and you have a recipe for trouble. There simply isn't the funding available to take serious action against rapes so it seems like a conundrum for the time being.
ReplyDeleteThis is beyond shocking, I had no idea that rape was so prevalent in South Africa. I recently saw an episode of America's Next Top Model that was located in SA and they were boasting about the growing fashion industry there and claiming that the hottest up and coming models commonly go to SA for better opportunities. That's why I was also stunned to read these statistics. There has to be something the government can do about this, it is too serious to ignore and clearly it is linked to the spread of HIV/Aids. How else could it be spreading so rapidly and in such large numbers. If the government were truly concerned they would realize that allowing rape to continue is only going to cost the government more money. Either in emergency hospitalizations or in medical care for HIV infected victims/perpetrators who most likely do not have insurance. Great blog post Fiona, very powerful!
ReplyDelete