Lesbian Students Face Huge Risk of "Corrective" Rape in South Africa
Wednesday 7th May 2008
South African officials are reporting an alarming rise in the number of incidents of “corrective rape” of lesbian students.
A group of South African schoolchildren. Lesbian students face a high risk of horrifying "corrective rape".
“Corrective rape” is the term used when a man rapes a lesbian woman, believing that the heinous act will somehow make the woman heterosexual.
The issue is becoming a major concern for officials, particularly in the schools of the Western Cape area. Rape and other attacks on lesbians are all too common in the country, as evidenced by the recent gang rape and murder of young lesbian football player Eudy Simelane. Simelane was attacked, sexually assaulted and repeatedly stabbed by a group of youths in her village near Johannesburg after returning from a night out.
Government officials and human rights organizations have expressed growing unease over male students’ treatment of LGBT students, particularly women. The University of South Africa and the Triangle Project recently did a study and concluded that schools are "unsafe places for many lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT) learners".
The Human Rights Commission on school violence expressed its particular concern over the rise of corrective rape, and the Triangle Project confirmed that they had dealt with many cases of sexual minority female students being assaulted by male students recently.
The Triangle Project’s Marlow Valentine said: "The level of cases coming to the fore is alarming … It's like (heterosexual boys think) if you want to be lesbian, this is your punishment."
He added: "Heterosexual boys also perceive lesbian women as being competition, so they think: 'I need to change you'."
Government officials fully admit they are dealing with a crisis. Kholeka Booi of the Rape Crisis centre in Khayelitsha said: "If a girl discloses she is lesbian, boys assume [it’s because] the girl does not know anything about boys. There is a lot of peer pressure among boys and kids are afraid to report [rapes].”
Booi and Valentine also blamed cultural issues. Valentine said that high levels of rape were partially because of the widespread belief, in some communities, that it is acceptable for a man to force themselves on a woman if she ignores their come-ons.
Even the term “corrective rape” itself helps compound the problem. The term “corrective” tends to "reinforce the myth that something can be corrected and that lesbianism is a choice,” said Evelynne Moses of the Rape Crisis centre in Athlone. The idea that sexuality is a choice is widely held in many of the areas where “corrective rape” is a significant problem.
The key to reducing violence against lesbians is a change in thinking. If that doesn’t occur there will most likely be more women who suffer the same horrible fate as Eudy Simelane.
A group of South African schoolchildren. Lesbian students face a high risk of horrifying "corrective rape".
“Corrective rape” is the term used when a man rapes a lesbian woman, believing that the heinous act will somehow make the woman heterosexual.
The issue is becoming a major concern for officials, particularly in the schools of the Western Cape area. Rape and other attacks on lesbians are all too common in the country, as evidenced by the recent gang rape and murder of young lesbian football player Eudy Simelane. Simelane was attacked, sexually assaulted and repeatedly stabbed by a group of youths in her village near Johannesburg after returning from a night out.
Government officials and human rights organizations have expressed growing unease over male students’ treatment of LGBT students, particularly women. The University of South Africa and the Triangle Project recently did a study and concluded that schools are "unsafe places for many lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT) learners".
The Human Rights Commission on school violence expressed its particular concern over the rise of corrective rape, and the Triangle Project confirmed that they had dealt with many cases of sexual minority female students being assaulted by male students recently.
The Triangle Project’s Marlow Valentine said: "The level of cases coming to the fore is alarming … It's like (heterosexual boys think) if you want to be lesbian, this is your punishment."
He added: "Heterosexual boys also perceive lesbian women as being competition, so they think: 'I need to change you'."
Government officials fully admit they are dealing with a crisis. Kholeka Booi of the Rape Crisis centre in Khayelitsha said: "If a girl discloses she is lesbian, boys assume [it’s because] the girl does not know anything about boys. There is a lot of peer pressure among boys and kids are afraid to report [rapes].”
Booi and Valentine also blamed cultural issues. Valentine said that high levels of rape were partially because of the widespread belief, in some communities, that it is acceptable for a man to force themselves on a woman if she ignores their come-ons.
Even the term “corrective rape” itself helps compound the problem. The term “corrective” tends to "reinforce the myth that something can be corrected and that lesbianism is a choice,” said Evelynne Moses of the Rape Crisis centre in Athlone. The idea that sexuality is a choice is widely held in many of the areas where “corrective rape” is a significant problem.
The key to reducing violence against lesbians is a change in thinking. If that doesn’t occur there will most likely be more women who suffer the same horrible fate as Eudy Simelane.
