South African Lesbians facing "corrective" rape

[JamesSavik]

Lesbians subjected to "corrective rape" in South Africa

Lesbians living in South Africa are being subjected to "corrective rape" and severe violence by men trying to "cure" them of their sexual orientation, human rights groups have said.

 

Published: 1:12AM GMT 13 Mar 2009

 

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A report by the international NGO ActionAid, backed by the South African Human Rights Commission, said the horrific crimes against lesbians were going unrecognised by the state and unpunished by the legal system.

 

The report called for South Africa's criminal justice system to recognise the rapes as hate crimes in an attempt to force police to take action over the rising tide of violence.

 

The ferocity of the attack became clear in April last year when Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's national female football squad, became one of the victims. Miss Simelane, and equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian, was gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs.

 

But scores more women have been deliberately targeted for rape, the Guardian reports.

 

"Every day I am told that they are going to kill me, that they are going to rape me and after they rape me I'll become a girl," Zakhe Sowello from Soweto, told the paper. "When you are raped you have a lot of evidence on your body. But when we try and report these crimes nothing happens, and then you see the boys who raped you walking free on the street."

 

Research shows 86 per cent of black lesbians from the Western Cape live in fear of sexual assault. Triangle, a gay rights organisation, said it deals with up to 10 new cases of "corrective rape" every week.

 

"What we're seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them," Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive at Triangle, told the paper.

 

Support groups claim an increasingly macho political environment led to inaction over attacks.

 

A statement released by South Africa's national prosecuting authority said: "While hate crimes

[Arpeggio]

That is really very sad.

[Nephylim]

Sometimes all I can do is give thanks that the accident of birth placed me where it did,

 

That is terrible. I am still shocked at what people are prepared to do to each other.

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Edited May 16, 2010 by AZSquid

[Bleu]

Well, they do need to classify them as hate crime, because there is a double crime there. As it would be if, say, a gay man was murdered in Arizona for being gay. Meaning, that person was specifically targeted for what he/she was, rather than killed at random.

 

It looks like gay rights are especially lagging behind in the southern part of Africa, where gays of both sexes make perfect scapegoats for the spread of AIDS.

[...]

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Edited May 16, 2010 by AZSquid

[thatboyChase]

Saw a little feature thing on ESPN about her. What tards down there, god people are stupid. But rock on for her, pro soccer

[Gregoire]

I'd never heard that story before. That's more terrible than anything I could imagine. There's still a lot of work to do before we're equals in the world. I don't know. I get complacent here. My greatest fear in high school was being picked on because I was gay, losing friends, but I never had to worry about being raped or killed. I am so sorry for Eudy Simelane and the other women who suffered those attacks. I, sincerely, hope that there has been progress, because this is not okay.

 

**I went back and typed in "corrective rape" and I found nothing else about this. It really should be a bigger deal. This is something that you should see on the news everyday when they're doing celebrity stories. It's something that should be emphasized until it's given proper attention. That's it's not is really scary to me. I feel like I should have known about this before now.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Mr. Greg

[Douw]

I live in RSA And i can tell you thing like rape run rampant here people are sic of it but nothing is being dun!

 

The highest rape numbers on earth are in RSA! Now As too Aids Thats BS! the spreading of aids is not the gay community's fault at the weary least the gay community has les aids cases!

 

If any thing it mite be the condoms that are being handed out for free are defective! (Thy tear easy)