4.7 ABUSE AGAINST WOMEN
4.7.2 Sexual Violence
The lives of women in the post-colonial South Africa are threatened to the core notwithstanding their age. Most women, both young and aged have become victims of rape. South Africa has the highest levels of rape in the world (Jewkes & Abrahams, 2002).
Chesler (1997) maintains that sexual violence is caused by gender role inequality found in patriarchal cultures which oppress women and empower men
Susan Brownmiller is the pioneer of feminism that published the first major feminist work on the discourse of rape, Against Our Will (1975). This feminist refers to rape as ‘a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear’
(Brownmiller, 1975: 15). Moreover, she argues that ‘rape contributed to the sexual exploitation of women and that rape should be seen as a social and political problem rooted in gender inequality.’
Rohland (2009: 7) asserts that a motivation for men to rape women is their ability to exert power. Further evidence could be drawn from Sikweyiya et al.’s (2007: 56) study on the theme of rape. This researcher carried out a study with 20 Xhosa men recruited from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. It was found that:
the majority of these men believed many rape myths. These rape myths included the belief that rape could only occur when a man had used considerable force with a woman, and if perpetrator had scratches on his skin from the protest of a woman. These men believed that rape was a serious problem for men as women used accusations (that men had raped) against men in order to protect their reputations (even though they were thought to have ‘asked for it’. They used language which distanced themselves from past acts of sexual coercion. For example, one of the respondents said ‘sometimes you do things not knowing their repercussions or even because of age, because it is something that I would not do now, maybe it was because of my age.
By virtue of the information noted above, it could be argued that there could still be men who believe that some victims of rape are as guilty as rapists. This could be evidenced by the rapidly growing debate on whether women who wear sexually appealing clothing such as mini-skirts are inviting rape or not.
The crisis of rape is worthy of being labelled as one of the apex challenges of the post- colonial South Africa. Young girls below the age of 1 year are raped, gang raped and murdered (Deborah Patta: 3rd degree). This horrific problem was featured on 3rd degree by Deborah Patter where it was proven to be a devastating concern of the society at large.
In one of the 3rd degree episodes on Rape Horror, it was assumed that 360 women are raped everyday in South Africa. Deborah Patta notes: ‘…violence against women knows no boundaries.’ She features the case of two women allegedly raped by someone they knew. The incident of this women infused rage and violence on the people of South Africa demanding justice.
In the episode, it is revealed that a 17 year old woman is attacked, gang raped and disembowelled but was able to name her attackers before she could die. In addition, it was also noted that another 15 year old girl was gang raped and stabbed 53 times and her throat slit, and she too was able to name her attackers before she could die.
During the episodes, views were invited from different experts. Kelly Moult of Gender &
Justice Unit, UCT affirms: ‘one of the fundamental misconceptions about rape is that it is about sex. Rape is not about sex, it is about power. It is about exerting often for somebody who feels entirely powerless...’ Correspondingly, Mbuyiselo Botha of the Sonke Gender Justice network acclaims: ‘…it gives you a sense of dominance, you suppress this person, you take over their voice and independence…’Moreover Desmond Tutu’s plea runs as follows:
…what it means of being people of honour, dignity, loving power and guiding strength and when we forget we struggle, we become angry, we fight. Sometimes rape is a response to an overwhelming sense of disempowerment both here in South Africa and in any countries. Like a cornered animal, a man might lash out in anger, frustration and revenge…’
Figure 4.5 Sexual violence
Analysis
The above outlined images respond to questions raised against sexual violence victims.
First image shows a lot of young girls gathered together and all of them are holding placards. On the pink placard held by the girl on the fore front, it is written, ‘Don’t tell us how to dress tell not to rape. Furthermore, the second image shows the communities of South Africa united together to fight against rape and the third picture provides a sensitive message. It states that mini-skirts do not commit rape but rapists do. A short red skirt is used as an illustration. Finally, the last images only shows naked legs which can be presumably argued to be of a woman. On one leg it is written, ‘I didn’t ask and on the second, ‘To be raped’.