Corrective Rape

Richard Weston 2014/09/

Media Studies Essay

Corrective Rape of gay woman in South Africa.

In South Africa, women have less sexual and economic power than men. One of the factors associated with this inequality is strict gender roles, which has led to one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world. In 2009 a survey on sexual assault was done by the South African government, where statistics show one in four men admit to having sex with a woman who did not consent to sexual activity, nearly half of these men admitted to raping more than once.

Corrective rape is a hate crime wielded to convert lesbians to heterosexuality – an attempt to 'cure' them of being gay.

Poor black women who live in townships are more likely to become victims of corrective violence, and gay women are more likely to be isolated with little support, which increases their chances of being targeted. Ref (http://en.wikipedia.org/)

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which obligates states to remove discriminatory barriers from the full and free exercise of rights by women. The Convention's duty to modify the conduct of private citizens to ensure equality for women covers attitudes that include the inferiority of women and stereotyped gender roles, which arguably encompass the animus toward gay women that motivates many men to commit corrective

On her way home from soccer practice one night, when four men surrounded her and dragged her back to the football stadium. She recognized her attackers. One by one, the men raped her, beating her unconscious and leaving her for dead.

The next morning, Mvuleni came round, looking violated and taunted by her terrifying experience. The last thing they said to her before she passed out was "After everything we're going to do to you, you're going to be a real woman, and you're never going to act like this again".

Compared to many of the country’s victims, she was lucky to survive. At least 31 women over the past decade were not so luck. In 2007, to cite one incident, Sizakele Sigasa, a women's and gay rights activist, and her friend Salone Massooa, were outside a bar when a group of rowdy men were were calling them “tomboys”.They were both violated and gang raped, tortured and then tied up by their underwear and shot in the head. Executed. No one was ever convicted.

M.funa’s case was also unusual because unlike 24 out of 25 rapes that even reach trial in S.A two of her attackers were convicted and imprisoned for 25 years. The wearabouuts of the other men are