Hate crimes: The rise of 'corrective' rape in South Africa - Rape Outcry

12 Hate crimes: The rise of ‘corrective’ rape in South Africa 13 Hate crimes: The rise of ‘corrective’ rape in South AfricaWhy is it happening?Failures of the criminal justice system“When asking why women arebeing raped and murdered in suchhigh numbers in South Africa youhave to look at the increasinglymacho culture, which seeks tooppress women and sees themas merely sexual beings. So whenthere is a lesbian woman she isan absolute affront to this kindof masculinity.”Carrie Shelver, POWA.“This guy he wanted to go out with mygirlfriend so one day he picked me up witha crew of his gangster friends, they took meoff the street and to an abandoned placewhere they beat me with a spanner and didwhatever they wanted… All the time theywere telling me this is what happens when a woman pretends to be a man.” Tshidi, 31, Cape Town.Increasing culture of misogyny and violenceIt is estimated that a woman is raped every 26seconds in South Africa. 11 In a survey carried outby national support organisation CIET, almost20% of men, when asked about their attitudesto rape, said they believed a survivor enjoyed theexperience and ‘asked for it’. 12‘Corrective’ rape survivors interviewed byActionAid say that verbal abuse before andduring the rape focused on being “taughta lesson” and being “shown how to be realwomen and what a real man tasted like”. 13 Inother words, women who choose not to identifyas heterosexual are being victimised for being‘abnormal’– for daring to step outside theboundaries of what their families, communitiesand wider society prescribe for them. 14“We’ve had to go into hiding because wefeared for our lives in my township. Mygirlfriend had to come to Cape Town fromJohannesburg because of the violenceshe suffered there, then here in Cape Townmen broke into our house, they shot at us,we were threatened every day. We feel likecriminals and cowards because we have run away but I don’t think we’d be alive now if we’d stayed there.” Pumeza, 32, Khayelitsha, Cape Town.In a poll of survivors of homophobic hate crimes inthe Western Cape, 66% of women said they didnot report their attack because they would not betaken seriously. Of these, 25% said they fearedexposing their sexual orientation to the police and22% said they were afraid of being abused. 15 Asone woman explained, “When a lesbian woman israped, her family and people in the street say shedeserved it and her rapist showed her how to bea woman. It’s easier to keep quiet.”Those women who do seek justice from thecriminal justice system are being let down. Onlyone in five reported rapes ends up in court,with just over 4% of these cases resulting ina conviction. 16 There have been 31 recordedmurders of lesbian women since 1998 – to datethere has been just one conviction for thesecrimes.Women’s rights groups such as POWA and TACreport that it is usual for cases to be delayedmultiple times before they are heard by a judge,with cases failing because of sub-standardinvestigation and insufficient preparation.It’s also worth noting that the law on hate crimeis narrowly interpreted by the courts as onlyapplying on the basis of race and gender. Ifthey take it into account at all, judges will onlyconsider sexual orientation as an aggravatingfactor when sentencing. They will not take itinto account as part of the evidence. Whatthis means practically is that the NationalProsecuting Authority and the police do notrecord hate crimes on the basis of sexualorientation or collect evidence on this aspectof the case. Few or no resources are put intotackling this kind of crime.The 07-07-07 campaign want ‘corrective’ raperecognised as a hate crime against lesbianwomen. They want sexual orientation to beacknowledged as an aggravating factor in thesecases and the constitutional court to strengthenthe Equality Act in this area.Furthermore, the campaign is calling for sexualorientation to be specifically recognised asgrounds for protection in a proposed newProhibition of Hate Speech Bill. 17“Here in South Africa you havejudges sending women to jail forstealing a loaf of bread to feedher baby, but men who gang rapewomen, who murder lesbians, whobeat their wives to death, theywalk the streets as free men.”Tshidi, 31, Cape Town.Tshidi (right) andPumeza have been acouple for two years.Both women have beenattacked and intimidated.ActionAid partner TAC says there is also growing evidence that rape is contributing toincreasing rates of HIV infection amongst black lesbian women. Services for survivorsof sexual violence, such as access to post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIVtransmission and emergency contraception, are woefully inadequate. Groups such asTAC and POWA that provide support to survivors, including counselling, healthcare andrunning preventative community education programmes, say they are struggling to meetdemand for their services.