On Wednesday, the Guardian (a newspaper that still has journalistic integrity) reported on a study (PDF of executive summary)by South Africa's Medical Research Council on rape and HIV. The study found that 28% of men (sample size of 1738) admitted to having raped a woman or girl, and half of those reported committing multiple rapes. They also found that 5% of men admitted to committing a rape in the past year. Although women are the primary victims, 10% of males reported being raped by another man, with 3% of men admitting to raping another man or boy.
So called "corrective" rape (warning: video is not visually graphic, but is disturbing) is also being used to "convince" lesbians to be straight.
The silence? An estimated 88% of rapes go unreported. The culture? Only 7% of reported rapes lead to a conviction.
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Comments
Graeme (not verified) | 06/19/09 | 03:01 AM
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Mike in NYC (not verified) | 06/20/09 | 14:34 PM
Josh Witten | 06/20/09 | 21:47 PM
"There were significant racial differences in rape reporting, mostly notably men who were Coloured were over represented [sic] among those who had raped."
Race does appear to be significant. It's interesting that they omitted racial breakdowns in the report.
Mike in NYC (not verified) | 06/20/09 | 23:51 PM
Their result is that a single "race" is overrepresented, not that "race" in general is a significant "risk" factor, as it is for HIV infection. Without getting to see the raw data and detailed methods, it is difficult to interpret this single result.
It must also be noted that "coloured" in South Africa has a different meaning than it traditionally does in the United States. "Coloured" is a legal category that essentially has no biological meaning and represents a great diverist of people and culture across South Africa. As I have said elsewhere, it seems in this case that racial categories are too general and do not provide the detailed, quality information necessary to understand the real variables contributing to this issus.
Josh Witten | 06/21/09 | 15:54 PM
