According to BBC News, 10 women are raped or gang raped each week in South Africa because they are lesbians. It is being called “corrective rape.” Some South African men believe that by raping lesbians, they can “cure” them.
Many of these women do not live to tell their story. They are often not only brutally raped, but also repeatedly stabbed and left for dead.
There are also issues with police in South Africa, who sometimes make the situation uncomfortable for victims of “corrective rape” by taunting and mocking them. Many assaults go unreported because of stories in the gay community of victims being humiliated by the police.
Many believe that all the violence stems from the reality that many Africans are homophobic and many African societies are patriarchal.
We must remember that not all Africans are homophobic, and in many African societies, women are leaders and are not at all subordinate to men.
This violence is representative of a problem not only in South Africa, but also present around the globe. In fact, gay marriage is legal in South Africa, one of few countries that have chosen to take this approach.
The issue lies in the way some groups of people think and rationalize. In South Africa, some men are offended by the fact that women prefer other women and not men. Some men also believe that “butch lesbians” are stealing their women and retaliate by assaulting them.
Violent acts like “corrective rape” have been happening for years all over the world, even in the Unites States. This is not an African problem but a problem that encompasses the views of certain groups of people.
Regardless of the stance on homosexuality, violence is unacceptable and it only perpetuates hate.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Photo Credit: kapstadtreporter.de, news.africanseer.com
