Hate By Any Other Name : Corrective Rape

  In most of the western world, hate crime laws are a hot-button issue. In South Africa, the modern continental nation, one crime is rampant but seldom spoken about. Over 54, 000 women a year are raped and only 1 in 25 rapists ever see the inside of a jail cell. A painful form of it touches me personally, and that is the homophobic rapes of lesbians. 

Called corrective rape, men see themselves as raping for a noble cause. Groups of rapists often have heirarchal structures based on age and number of women so viciously attacked. And social background does not matter- national soccer hero Eudy Similane was raped and murdered by a gang of these filthy heathens. In the minds of these men, and even ones in our land, all a gay girl needs is a good fuck and she'll be fixed. 

The logic may seem ridiculously flawed until we look at the way we in the west view gay women. Through the pornography stacks are fantastical accounts of men happening on two women in bed until Mr. Dick comes in to save the day. Asinine logic like this is exactly why rapes of obviously gay women are seldom prosecuted and the conviction rate is microscopic even in North America with our hate crimes statutes , it is never prosecuted as a hate crime because the victims are women .

While here there is a hope of a judicial remedy, in South Africa that hope is scant. As a populous nation of HIV/AIDS- infected rapists, this abhorrent evil is not only a vicious hate crime, but often a death sentence. Victims are often shamed into drug addiction and suicide. Rapists are often let go or given minor sentences to be released to continue their attacks. In the only African nation where gays can marry, they are still not permitted the protection of an enhanced sentence under their hate crimes laws. 

I urge you to think twice before uttering terms like "well, you haven't had ME yet" and other dismissive and threatening language to gay women. I also implore you to join over 100, 000 of your fellow citizens in condemning corrective rape and demanding its prosecution. 

Here's where to go   <---Click text