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Chief researcher Rachel Jewkes said Friday that the findings were "shocking" but "not unexpected." Not unexpected? I suppose that comes from police statistics, which state that approximately 36,000 women were raped in 2007, nearly 100 per day. Much as in other parts of the world, though, it's likely that not all rapes are reported.
Results of the survey include the following:
Nearly 28 percent of men interviewed said they raped a woman or girl
14 percent said they had raped a former or current girlfriend
12 percent said they had raped someone who was not their partner
10 percent said they had raped both a stranger and a partner
17 percent of the men surveyed admitted to attempted rape
9 percent said they had taken part in gang rapes
42 percent of men surveyed said they had been physically violent to an intimate partner, including 14 percent in the past year
Worse, nearly 20 percent of those who admitted sexual abuse had tge AIDS virus. Of course, in South Africa that's only slightly higher than the 18 percent infection rate among men not involved in rape.
Jewkes told AP:
"Rape is a crime of a sense of entitlement. It comes from a notion of power. I don't think there is a quick fix. If people were concerted about trying to fix it, it would take a generation.
"Our study suggests that the pathway which leads to these ideas and the practices of rape and other forms of violence toward women starts in childhood.
"You can't change behavior practiced by one quarter of the population if the main strategy is through the use of police and courts. The police and courts are important but they are only part of the solution."
Posted June 21st, 2009 by Michael Santo
