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This qualitative media study, undertaken within an interpretative research paradigm, aims to expand our knowledge of sexual violence perpetrated against learners in South African public and private schools. Due to ethical, normative and methodological barriers surrounding research on sexual violence in schools, South African English language newspapers were used as data source. The SA Media database was utilised to identify 153 relevant newspaper articles published in the period of 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. Themes were identified by means of qualitative content analysis. The findings shed light on the extent of sexual violence in schools, the acceptance and normalisation of teacher-on-learner sexual violence, the exploitation of learners' academic and athletic aspirations by teachers and coaches, and the imbalance of power and consequent abuse of power in a country where hegemonic masculinity prevails. Moreover, the study found teachers, coaches, caregivers, taxi drivers and fellow learners to be perpetrators of sexual violence. The study also highlights the negative effects of sexual violence on the victims' academic, mental, physical and social wellbeing. Drawing on Galtung's typology of violence, three dimensions of violence, namely personal or direct violence, indirect or structural and cultural violence were identified. This multidimensional interpretation emphasises the need to address this scourge on direct, structural and cultural levels.

Many challenges exist to conducting participatory research and consultation with young people, especially with those considered vulnerable or at risk. Beyond respecting the safety and wellbeing of young research participants, researchers must be aware of barriers to youth engagement and be attuned to the many forms of youth resistance. As young people are seeking more control over their lives, traditional knowledge hierarchies between adults and youth are shifting. In July 2018, an event entitled Circles Within Circles brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous girls and young women from South Africa, Canada, Russia, Sweden, and Kenya to learn from each other's participatory art-making and create a network for challenging gender-based violence (GBV). This article provides insight into the often-invisible experience of the "supporting cast" in events like Circles Within Circles. The co-authors are doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who contributed to organization and acted as facilitators, notetakers, and participants. The co-authors conduct participatory analyses of journal entries they wrote throughout the event, and jointly reflect on the activities and their feelings about their roles. Reflecting, for example, on gut feelings about young participants' use of voice and silence during adult-led activities, the co-authors discuss their reading of girls' demonstrations of resistance. This embodied knowledge, further cultivated by attuning to shared experience, is explored in this collaborative auto-ethnography. Examining the complexities of this cross-cultural and intergenerational event, the co-authors contend that when supporting girls and young people subverting dominant narratives of GBV, researchers' embodied reflexivity is crucial for positively contributing to girl-led change.

The health and well-being of young people remains a critical issue. For Indigenous girls and young women in Canada and South Africa, the situation is exacerbated by high rates of sexual violence. The article draws on examples of artworks and close readings of several images of resistance produced by Indigenous girls and young women participating in a six-year study that seeks to address sexual violence in the two countries. Exploring resistance is an understudied area in relation to young people and well-being. Building on our visual research and fieldwork, we posit that the idea of "picturing (as) resistance" through the various participatory visual and arts-based tools is a promising area of investigation in relation to well-being.

This article examines the vulnerability of orphans to sexual violence in and around their township secondary school. Using photovoice as a methodology with which to unearth these experiences and narratives, we examine how such an approach might engage the voices of orphans to inform thinking regarding sexual violence. Our analysis was informed by our desire to engage learners as critical and creative thinkers who are capable of grounding and thinking critically about their own issues. Findings highlight the vulnerability of orphaned girls both in and outside school. The photographs they produced demonstrate the pervasive nature of sexual violence directed against them. Photovoice enabled both ourselves and our participants to investigate experiences of sexual violence among orphaned learners. In particular, as a participatory visual method, photovoice facilitated the development of a transformative pedagogy in which we created a safe space for orphaned learners, a group that is often marginalised and silenced in many spaces to speak about their experiences. While many groups, particularly poor girls and women, experience high rates of sexual violence, the vulnerability of orphaned girls and boys is further increased by their social status within their families, communities and at school.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the greatest social issues affecting South Africa, and universities are no exception. This article reports preliminary results of a pilot study conducted at the University of South Africa (Unisa). The study aimed to ascertain perceptions of GBV among university staff. A range of frequency-seeking questions aimed at exploring awareness, experiences, and reflections about solutions to GBV were posed to selected staff members by means of an online survey. The results of the survey are presented here in graphic form and subjected to descriptive analysis, which is compared with existing literature on the topic. The key findings in this pilot study concern the perceptions of GBV among university staff, their awareness of the types of GBV and its prevalence, and the participants' feelings about safety regarding GBV and commitment to participate in possible solutions. We conclude that we cannot expect trends reported in literature to be replicated in any research study.

In 2004 South Africa embarked on a mission of reforming its higher education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all higher education institutions university. The democratic country's universities and technikons, which were incorporated with others and thus no longer exist, will be mentioned in this study. There are also a large number of institutions in South Africa, some are local campuses of foreign universities, some conduct classes for students who write their examinations at the distance education University of South Africa and some offer unaccredited or non accredited diplomas. Public universities in South Africa are divided into three types; traditional universities, which offer theoretically oriented university degrees; universities of technology, which offer practically-oriented diplomas and degrees in technical fields; and comprehensive universities, which offer a combination of both types of qualifications. Disciplinary problems at universities interfere with the educational process and place a burden on Management and academics. Misdemeanours have long been linked to negative outcomes for students, such as course failure and dropping out of universities. University senior management team is interested in keeping the institution safe and maintaining positive environment conducive to learning. To accomplish this mission, universities employ a range of policies and approaches to managing student behaviour, including positive behaviour support, exclusion, suspension and expulsions. Research was conducted in three types of South African universities. Management of each type of university was interviewed. From each type of university, three institutions were randomly selected. This left the researcher with a total of 9 universities out of 23. Responses from management of various institutions were related.

South Africa, a country with the highest incidence of rape and child rape in the world, has the fifth highest prevalence of HIV in the world, with 1.1 million AIDS orphans. The UNAIDS Global Report reveals 370,000 AIDS-related deaths in South Africa in 2003. Given the numbers of people infected and dying, South Africa is regarded as having the most severe HIV epidemic in the world. This pandemic is estimated to be several years away from peaking in terms of the numbers of projected AIDS-related deaths with a projection of 75-100 million affected by 2010. In this interview, activist filmmaker Louise Hogarth tackles the issue on HIV/AIDS through her film entitled "Angels in the Dust." (Contains 12 notes.)

Seamus Heaney talked of poetry's responsibility to represent the "bloody miracle", the "terrible beauty" of atrocity; to create "something adequate". This article asks, what is adequate to the burning and eating of a nun and the murderous gang rape and evisceration of a medical student? It considers Njabulo Ndebele's answer: the retelling of the story in the service of "love and politics", and that of the South African playwright, Yael Farber, who workshopped and then performed experiences of terrible, disfiguring violence against women. It asks what Humanities disciplinary writing would be "something adequate": something that raises "critical consciousness" in the terms Heaney claimed in his Nobel Lecture "Crediting Poetry", that illuminates and appreciates rather than contributes to an anaesthetising "culture of suspicion", that re-presents adequate--discipline-specific, singular, particular, poetic--truth.

This article advances the idea that rural youth and teachers are the key in leading community dialogue towards addressing gender-based violence (GBV) in their community through their film making. The youth voices on the realities of GBV in their school and community, in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, captured through the process of participatory video, are used to engage a group of their teachers in thinking about addressing GBV in the school and community. The teachers' engagement with the five participatory videos on GBV--through participatory analysis and participatory archiving--provided an opportunity to deepen their understanding of GBV by also interrogating their own stance and led them to direct the production of a composite video suitable for use in leading community dialogue on a future without violence.

In this article I offer a defence of cosmopolitanism as an enabling condition for university education in Africa. Recent xenophobic outbursts in South Africa suggests that the enactment of defensible virtues in societies remain distant from the practices of many people. My contention is that university education ought to take seriously the teaching of virtues such as cosmopolitanism to ensure that societal ills in some African communities such as perpetual genocide, rape, mass enslavement, political dictatorships, xenophobic violence and religious intolerance are combated and even eradicated. In the main my argument is that universities in Africa ought to cultivate the virtue of cosmopolitanism in order to enact justifiable educational change--a situation which can potentially contribute towards achieving a renewed African university. In tackling the main research question of my project, I firstly provide a cursory critical analysis of challenges faced by higher education in Africa, particularly exploring the inattentiveness of higher education to deal sufficiently with the afore-mentioned societal malaises. Thereafter, I offer a defence of cosmopolitanism, in particular arguing for democratic reiterations and a Kantian notion of hospitality to be taught at higher education institutions.

Objective: Our objective was to audit the provision and utilization of HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to child rape survivors in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Methods: A prospective design was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 200 consecutive cases of child rape referred for medico-legal assessment to a state hospital located to the north of the City of Durban (South Africa) in the period October to December 2004. For each case, information was obtained regarding demographic characteristics of the child, the child's HIV status at presentation, any excluding factors for PEP therapy, and the extent of adherence to the antiretroviral therapy regimen. Results: One hundred and twenty children (60%) qualified for PEP provision, with children being excluded because they refused initial HIV testing (1.5%), tested HIV positive at presentation (6.5%), or because of delayed (greater than 72 hour) presentation (32%). Of the 113 children who were followed through the PEP provision system, 40 (35.4%) returned for the full 28-day course, and only 4 (3.5%) returned at both 3- and 6-month follow up. Conclusions: Adherence rates for PEP therapy following child rape in South Africa are extremely low, with low adherence rates being associated with a theoretical risk of both reduced efficacy and drug resistance. In this context, there is a need for further research designed to identify the reasons for such non-adherence as well as a need for secondary prevention programs designed to both encourage more immediate reporting of child rape and to increase adherence to the PEP regimen.

"Summers To Step Down, Ending Tumult at Harvard" kicked off in 2006 as one of the most talked about news stories in higher education. Only a few months later, an event involving another elite institution would grab even more headlines, and with more serious ramifications. Three Duke University men's lacrosse players were indicted on rape charges. The alleged rape would raise issues of race, gender and class, as the accuser was an African-American female student at historically Black North Carolina Central University, also located in Durham. Students across the country came together to pressure their university administrations to divest from companies conducting business in the African nation of Sudan, where an estimated 2 million people have been displaced and between 200,000 and 400,000 have died in what has been called state-sponsored genocide. More than 100 students participated in a "Solidarity Die-In" in March at the University of California, Los Angeles. The protests conjured up memories of college students in the 1980s, who called on their college administrations to divest from companies that did business in South Africa, as means of protesting that country's apartheid government. Protests continued right up to December for another cause, as many students demonstrated outside of the U.S. Supreme Court as it heard arguments on lawsuits by parents in Louisville, Kentucky, and Seattle who are challenging policies that use race to help determine where children go to school. Other newsworthy events that occurred throughout the year are highlighted in this article.

Jacob Zuma is the former Deputy President of South Africa who was suspended from office pending a court case on corruption charges but whose name has dominated the South Africa media over the last few months in relation to his prosecution for rape of a much younger woman who was HIV positive. The Jacob Zuma trial has produced powerful feelings for and against Zuma, thus, the author wants to reflect briefly on aspects of Zuma's appeal drawing on conversations with students--Zuma supporters--at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he teaches. Furthermore, he states that teaching "Jacob Zuma" in mixed "race" and mixed gender classes without generating and reinforcing "racial" and gendered tensions, but encouraging self-reflexivity and engagement with "Others" presents a major challenge.

In this article, we draw on the example of the Friday Absenteeism Project, a photo voice project with sixth grade learners in a rural KwaZulu-Natal school, to interrogate the nature of participatory process and cultural production. In so doing, we explore a number of critical issues related to youth participation, including ethics, citizenship and democracy, false promises, life skills and youth participation, links to media, edutainment, art and social change, participation, and taking action. (Contains 5 figures and 4 notes.)

This article examines the gendered subjectivity of the Nigerian woman in the militarized space of Boko Haram. Through the use of rape and other forms of physical and emotional abuse, Boko Haram militants have transformed abducted women into weapons in war. Referring to the traumatic experiences of the female protagonists in Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani's Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree (2018) and Patience Ibrahim's A Gift from Darkness (2016), this article demonstrates how the female body becomes a battleground for settling masculinist quarrels. Using a feminist postcolonial and womanist conceptual framework, this article explores the Nigerian woman's survival wisdom in terrorism and her quest for self-healing and agency within the militarized masculinist space of Boko Haram. It is observed that African women's resilience and rebellion against sexual terrorism and masculinist violence is a womanist tendency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most devastating practices to be normalised in modern times is gender-based violence. Women and girls in South Africa can no longer enjoy the freedom that was promised by the country's Freedom Charter during the dawn of democracy. Rape, killing and other forms of female persecution have become common practices, and the most worrying part of this is that the perpetrators of this violence seem to enjoy more freedom than their victims. Unfortunately, this kind of violence is no longer a secular issue but something that is now encountered in religious circles, places in which most people would hope to be sheltered and protected. The article investigates these kinds of violence within the parameters of religious institutions, specifically Pentecostal churches, and also makes some suggestions as to what kinds of approaches we need as a country to eliminate this pandemic. This article uses a desktop/secondary approach to gather data and to reach the conclusions made as a bases for the argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although rape in South Africa today is commonly framed as a post-apartheid 'crisis', neither sexual violence nor public concern about it in the country is new. This article explores an earlier period of 'rape crisis' from the 1970s to early 1990s, when sexual violence became a key topic of discussion amongst apartheid politicians, Black community leaders, feminist activists, and ordinary men and women. Focusing on the township of Soweto, it examines why public concern about sexual violence emerged during this period and how rape was conceptualised and responded to. It demonstrates how multiple and often competing social and political agendas constrained attempts to understand and address sexual violence in the country's townships: the growth of feminist activism; the intensification of the liberation struggle and attempts to repress it; public panic about crime; and shifting gender power dynamics. These divergent responses to rape reveal the challenges of addressing sexual violence within the contexts of anti-racist movements and competing political struggles. Exploring these longer histories not only addresses a gap in South African historiography, but also helps to develop a more global and comparative understanding of how gender, race, and class intersect in producing conceptualisations of rape and responses to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rape has a high prevalence in South Africa. The collection of credible and valid forensic evidence is a key legal factor that impacts case trial outcomes. Victim behaviour around the time of the rape can impact the collection and the integrity of forensic evidence, and can have a direct effect on case progression and conviction. Despite the importance of victim behaviour, few studies have been done on the role of victims in preserving forensic evidence. This article discusses how common personal hygiene practices undertaken by rape victims after being raped can impact the quality and validity of forensic evidence. This investigation was done with the aim of elucidating the role of victims in preserving forensic evidence post rape. Methods: This was a descriptive, retrospective clinical audit of all rape victims managed at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital forensic unit in South Africa from 01 January 2020 to 31 March 2022. Results: A total of 192 rape cases over the study period were included in this review. The median age of rape victims was 20 years (minimum 2 years; maximum 76 years). The majority (n = 178; 92.7%) of the victims were female. About 44.8% (n = 86) of the victims reported that they had urinated post-rape and prior to forensic examination, 20.8% (n = 40) had changed their clothing, 8.3% (n = 16) had showered, 6.8% (n = 13) had bathed, 4.2% (n = 8) had douched, and only 1.0% (n = 2) had defecated. Only 44 (22.9%) of the victims reported to have ingested alcohol or spiked drinks before the rape. Conclusion: These findings suggest that some rape victims engaged in personal hygiene practices that could militate against forensic evidence preservation. This finding, therefore, indicates the need for public awareness about ways to preserve evidence to the greatest extent possible after an incident of rape. Contribution: We provide simple guidelines for victims on the preservation of forensic evidence following rape and before detailed forensic medical examination and evidence collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The story often told about HIV in South Africa is a celebratory one that foregrounds the relationship between seropositive citizens and health‐care institutions. In the last 20 years, the government has invested heavily in rolling out life‐sustaining antiretroviral medicines to all who need them, making HIV a firm ground upon which many residents claim protections from the state. This article explores the role of medicine in buttressing the carceral state. I propose biocarceral citizenship to characterize the way health‐care entitlements produce new relationships to the criminal legal system, not through active state surveillance but by extending the responsibilization expected of patients to the penal sphere. Drawing from 22 months of ethnographic research carried out in clinics and courtrooms in the town of Thohoyandou between 2014 and 2018, I apply this concept to both those who have experienced rape, for whom reporting to the (carceral) state is a condition of accessing HIV prophylaxis, and to those who are charged with rape, for whom adherence to antiretroviral medicines is used as evidence of weaponizing sickness. In parallel ways, therapeutic responsibilization exposes both groups to state violence. The article takes HIV‐related entitlements as a cipher for theorizing punishment beyond a critique of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrective rape can be defined as a hate crime that entails the rape of any member of a group that does not conform to gender or sexual orientation norms, where the motive of the perpetrator is to "correct" the individual, fundamentally combining gender-based violence and homophobic violence. In South Africa, this type of discriminatory act is more common in rural townships, where women have less independence, education and support systems in place. It is estimated that at least 500 lesbians yearly are victims of corrective rape in South Africa; however, these statistics stand to be inaccurate as societal homophobia keeps many from reporting the crime. This study was completed to ascertain the role of communal motives in corrective rape in African communities, studying the community of Pietermaritzburg which is a city situated in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN). A qualitative study was adopted which aimed to analyse and establish the communal motives of African communities in normalizing the practice of corrective rape as a cure to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals. The study took place in the gay–lesbian network centre in Pietermaritzburg where data were gathered from the LGBTIAQ community. The objectives of the study were to assess the nature of the crime, to assess the influence of culture on the normalization of corrective rape as a cure for same-sex sexual attractions, to determine the effects of corrective rape on the LGBTI community, to establish the causes of corrective rape in the community and to determine if the rural community is enlightened about the rights of the LGBTIAQ community. The study also makes use of theoretical framework, including the victim precipitation theory, lifestyle exposure theory and social learning theory to explain and argue the research problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Survivors of sexual violence are at higher risk of adverse mental health outcomes compared to those exposed to other interpersonal traumas. Objective: To examine the trajectory of both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression as well as the role of early counselling over 24 months among rape survivors. Method: The South African Rape Impact Cohort Evaluation (RICE) study enrolled women aged 16–40 years attending post-rape care services within 20 days of a rape incident (n = 734), and a comparison group (n = 786) was recruited from primary health care. Women were followed for 24 months; the main study outcomes were depression and PTSD. Reports of early supportive counselling by the exposed group were also included. The analysis included an adjusted joint mixed model with linear splines to account for correlated observations between the outcomes. Results: At 24 months, 45.2% of the rape-exposed women met the cut-off for depression and 32.7% for PTSD. This was significantly higher than levels found among the unexposed. Although a decline in depression and PTSD was seen at 3 months among the women who reported a rape, mean scores remained stable thereafter. At 24 months mean depression scores remained above the depression cut-off (17.1) while mean PTSD scores declined below the PTSD cut-off (14.5). Early counselling was not associated with the trajectory of either depression or PTSD scores over the two years in rape-exposed women with both depression and PTSD persisting regardless of early counselling. Conclusion: The study findings highlight the importance to find and provide effective mental health interventions post-rape in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To deepen our understanding of sex work stigma, and to its drivers and their interrelation, we conducted an analysis using structural equation modelling of the South African National Sex Worker Survey. We enrolled 3005 women in sex work using multi-stage sampling across all South Africa's provinces. Experience of external/enacted and internalised stigma was widespread. Non-partner rape, intimate partner violence and partner controlling behaviour (often expressions of external/enacted stigma) compounded internalised stigma. These experiences of violence, other manifestations of external/enacted stigma and food insecurity, were key drivers of internalised stigma, and often had an impact on mental health. We found that considerable protection against stigma emanated from viewing sex work positively. This resistance to stigma provided opportunities to shift the narrative. Reducing sex workers' exposure to external/enacted stigmatising behaviour, including by enabling more to work indoors, and providing greater protection from partner violence and rape, are critical for better health and well-being. Ending the criminalisation of sex work is foundational for safer working conditions and better health outcomes for sex workers, similarly providing adequately funded mental and physical health and social care through sex work specific programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within research on sexual violence, womxn who have been raped are positioned as "vulnerable" participants, while researchers tend to occupy positions of "invulnerability". Drawing on vulnerable moments from a research project which explored womxn's experiences of rape in South Africa, this paper proposes a (more) vulnerable engagement with narratives of rape. Through attending to how vulnerability is implicated in issues of silence and agency, shame, and my own failures to witness the experiences of my participants with care, I explore the epistemic and ethical possibilities of an affective approach to researching rape. This approach asks us, as researchers, to attend to the moments during our research in which we are affected, moved and disrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The extremely high prevalence of sexual violence victimisation reported among female students in South African public higher education demands urgent action to develop, rigorously evaluate and scale effective prevention interventions. This article details findings from a pilot feasibility study of Ntombi Vimbela! a campus sexual violence risk reduction intervention developed to tackle the high burden of sexual violence in higher education institutions in South Africa. Methods: Ntombi Vimbela! (NV!) is a sexual violence risk reduction intervention that comprises sexuality empowerment, gender and social norm change, early-risk identification, self-defence, resistance and mental wellbeing components. NV! is comprised of ten workshop sessions running for 3.5 h each. Workshops are co-delivered by two trained peer facilitators per group of at most 20 first-year female students. One-year post-intervention quantitative outcome assessments were remotely completed by 98 participants who participated in the NV! pilot workshops. Qualitative assessments were conducted with 35 participants through in-depth telephone interviews (IDTIs). Findings: One year after attending NV! workshops, most participants reported improved awareness of sexual rights, assertive communication, shifts in gender equitable beliefs, reductions in rape myth acceptance, improved expressed sexual relationship power sexual decision-making, and improved negotiation within their intimate relationships. Participants' depressive symptoms also significantly decreased. Many participants improved awareness of sexual assault risk and vigilance, including using self-protection strategies such as removing themselves from environments where alcohol intoxication posed sexual assault risks. Some participants used assertive communication to withstand peer pressure to engage in risky sexual behaviours. Most participants scored highly on the self-defence efficacy scale. Some participants were exposed to and successful in using verbal and physical resistance strategies in potential sexual assault risky situations. Conclusion: These findings indicate the potential beneficial effects of NV! as a campus sexual violence risk reduction intervention at one-year post-intervention, which must be evaluated in a future rigorous randomised control trial. Pilot trial registered at: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04607564 on 29/10/2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) are common occurrences that contribute to negative maternal and child health outcomes. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that trauma exposure and depression are drivers of the better-recognised risk factors for miscarriage, abortion and stillbirths. Our comparative cohort study based in Durban, South Africa recruited women who reported a recent rape (n = 852) and those who had never experienced rape (n = 853), with follow-up for 36 months. We explored APOs (miscarriage, abortion or stillbirth) among those having a pregnancy during follow-up (n = 453). Potential mediators were baseline depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, substance abuse, HbA1C, BMI, hypertension and smoking. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to determine direct and indirect paths to APO. Overall, 26.6% of the women had a pregnancy in the follow-up period and 29.4% ended in an APO, with miscarriage (19.9%) the most common outcome, followed by abortion (6.6%) and stillbirths (2.9%). The SEM showed two direct pathways from exposure to childhood trauma, rape and other trauma, to APO which were ultimately mediated by hypertension and/or BMI, but all paths to BMI were mediated by depression and IPV-mediated pathways from childhood and other trauma to hypertension. Food insecurity mediated a pathway from experiences of trauma in childhood to depression. Our study confirms the important role of trauma exposure, including rape, and depression on APOs, through their impact on hypertension and BMI. It is critical that violence against women and mental health are more systematically addressed in antenatal, pregnancy and postnatal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attrition of rape cases within the criminal justice system is driven by different factors. We aimed to describe the patterns of rape case attrition and associated factors in South Africa. We analysed a national sample of 3,952 cases reported in 2012. We found that 35 per cent of cases were closed by police, 31 per cent were declined by the prosecutors, 16 per cent were enrolled but later struck off the roll, 19 per cent went on trial and 9 per cent were finalised with conviction. Aggravating circumstances, availability of forensic evidence and success at perpetrator arrests were key for case progression and increased likelihood of convictions. Thorough police investigations and continual training which addresses negative gender or other rape stereotyping are critical to ensure rape convictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both anthropology and history authors have written about the increase in predatory masculine sexual identities amongst the AmaXhosa, including rural and urban attitudes, and within such scholarship, issues such as rape have also emerged. However, the issue of rape has not been fully addressed, especially by anthropologists in the mid-twentieth century. The purpose of this article is to address the issue of rape by men amongst the AmaXhosa communities of King William's Town (known today as Qonce) in the 1950s and 1960s. This is done by using interviews recorded and transcribed by Percy Qayiso, a Black interlocutor and research assistant. Qayiso's interviews, which initially focussed on "morality," included rape testimonies and perspectives on rape. Although this article makes use of primary sources from the mid-twentieth century, the arguments presented about violence against women and their bodies resonate in contemporary discourse. Some contemporary scholars have articulated two aspects related to this article. First, liberal anthropologists like Phillip Mayer used Black interlocutors without properly citing their contribution and therefore forced them to exist in their shadow. Secondly, the rise of gender-based violence towards female persons in South Africa has had scholars from different schools of thought seeking ways to trace the genesis of this widespread phenomenon. While historians have not dominated academia in this regard, this article attempts to articulate perspectives related to violence against women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been the emergence of global and local anti-gender-based violence movements such as #MeToo and, in South Africa, #menaretrash, which has precipitated an increase in the disclosure of the names of the alleged perpetrators of sexual violence by the survivors. The increase in the disclosure of these names has been met with the intensification of legal processes by alleged perpetrators to counter and silence survivors. This case note will focus on the recent appeal case of S v P 2022 2 SACR 81 (WCC) in the High Court of South Africa, Western Cape Division, in Cape Town. In this case the court had to consider whether the court a quo was correct in issuing a final protection order (in terms of the Protection from Harassment Act 17 of 2011) against the appellant (S) where the court a quo found that her act of harassment was a third party's public disclosure of the respondent (P) as her rapist. It will be argued that the Western Cape High Court was correct in finding that the court a quo should not have issued a final protection order against S. It will be further argued that the reasons to overturn this decision included the court a quo's failure to appreciate the gendered purpose of the Protection from Harassment Act and that P misused and abused the Act in order to silence S. It will then be argued that one of the reasons why survivors choose to disclose alleged perpetrators' names on social platforms is a societal contextual reason, which includes the high rates of gender-based violence in South Africa alongside the high rates of attrition in gender-based violence cases in the criminal justice system. Finally, I will consider the cases of Mdlekeza v Gallie 2021 (WCHC) (unreported) case number 15490/2020 of 20 April 2021 and Booysen v Major (WCHC) (unreported) case number 5043/2021 of 30 August 2012 and argue that these cases are further examples of this abuse of process employed to silence survivors. With the courts seeing an increase in these applications to silence victims, it is argued that the courts must adopt a feminist-contextualised approach in order to avoid gagging survivors of gender-based violence and being complicit in the increasing weaponisation of court processes by alleged perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lara Foot Newton's play, Tshepang: The Third Testament, is based on the 2001 rape of a nine-month-old child in South Africa (the child, who survived, was renamed Baby Tshepang, or "Hope"). Systemic exploitation and poor living conditions—including alcoholism, poverty, war, unemployment, lack of education, and toxic constructions of masculinity—have engendered child sexual abuse in post-apartheid South Africa. By analyzing how the play diverges from the searing media accounts of the 2001 rape case, the article will demonstrate how cycles of violence and structured oppression have contributed to the prevalence of child rape and the ways in which the play invites productive engagement with the issue. Part of this discussion will include an examination of the figure of the rapist as presented in the play: abused and traumatized throughout his childhood, he ultimately becomes the victimizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual offending is a global problem but is particularly prevalent on the African continent and in South Africa. Childhood experiences related to abuse, alcohol use, and criminal activities in the household and community has been associated with an increased risk for violence perpetration in adulthood. Less is known about sexual violence perpetration, especially in the South African context. In this study, the experiences of incarcerated male perpetrators of rape in South Africa are investigated along with the collective social context and individual childhood experiences that potentially contribute to rape perpetration. Eighteen male perpetrators of rape who were inmates at Westville Correctional Services in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, were interviewed. The semistructured in-depth qualitative interviews were transcribed, coded and annotated using an interpretive paradigm and thematic analysis approach. Five main themes emerged from the research and included (1) childhood trauma and adverse events, e.g., an absent father, being raised without parents, exposure to criminal or violent behavior, physical abuse, sexual abuse and poverty, (2) understanding rape, e.g., rape as sex by force and without consent, rape as a violent act, rape as sex with a minor, myths about rape (3) substance abuse, e.g., history of alcohol and drug use, and intoxication during rape perpetration, (4) gender roles and avoiding responsibility, e.g., victim blaming, rape as male prerogative, transactional sex, being framed or set-up, ignoring an ancestral call and (5) recidivism. The findings revealed that all rape perpetrators were exposed to at least one childhood trauma type. Family and community violence and criminality was common. Most participants avoided taking responsibility for their actions and blamed the victim and recidivism/prior convictions were often reported. The findings demonstrate the complex personality dynamic involved in the cycle of abuse and the evolution of criminal behavior, starting as a victim and ending as a perpetrator. The findings also highlight the need for interventions aimed at reducing childhood trauma exposure and improving the social and relational context of those at risk for childhood neglect and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rape is often thought of as a crime that is incidental to the general violence of a nation. However, in order to understand the causes and consequences of rape more thoroughly, it is necessary to examine the ways in which rape is used systematically and strategically in the service of certain ideologies and national/group imperatives. It is also vital to comprehensively explore the collective or communal effects of rape. The extensive research into rape committed during times of war and/or conflict proves very valuable in developing understandings of the systematic and collective nature of rape. The aim of this article is, thus, to draw from the knowledge related to war rape to more thoroughly understand the ways in which rape in South Africa is carried out systematically and strategically in the service of developing a national identity and upholding heteropatriarchal ideologies, as well as to understand the communal effects of rape in this context. In so doing, the paper focuses on two main aspects of war rape and rape in South Africa, these being the socio-symbolic positioning of women as central to the efficacy of rape and rape as a form of social control. In addition, drawing on the correlations around war rape and rape in South Africa, the article argues that rape in South Africa could be classified and legislated as a crime against humanity, as is war rape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime generators are places that increase the risk of crime occurring due mainly to the fact that they attract a large number of motivated offenders and suitable targets to a particular location. Research identifying crime generators has however almost exclusively been confined to the United States and Europe with much less known about the ability of businesses, institutions, and/or public facilities to generate crime in less developed contexts, particularly in Africa. In this study we explore whether four different types of facilities act as crime generators in a setting axiomatically different to the West, namely Khayelitsha, a township located on the urban periphery of Cape Town in South Africa. Using intensity value analysis (IVA), we examine the intensity of assault, robbery and rape around four different types of facilities (schools, recreational hubs, transport interchanges, and alcohol outlets) relative to other random locations in Khayelitsha. The results of our research suggest that schools, and to a lesser extent transport interchanges and recreational hubs, may act as crime generators in the township. Possible explanations for these findings conclude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rape stigma, both external and self‐stigmatization (self‐blame), is associated with adverse health outcomes. Understanding its origins and resilience factors is critical for reducing and preventing it. We describe the prevalence of rape stigma, the characteristics of women experiencing it and the pathways to experiencing greater stigma. The Rape Impact Cohort Evaluation study enrolled 852 women aged 16–40 years who had been raped from post‐rape care centres in Durban, South Africa. We present a descriptive analysis of the baseline data, a multinomial logistic regression model of factors associated with different levels of stigma and a structural equation model (SEM). Most women reported stigmatizing thoughts or experiences, with self‐stigmatizing thoughts being more prevalent than external stigmatization. The multinomial model showed that experiences of childhood or other trauma, emotional intimate partner violence (IPV), having less gender equitable attitudes and food insecurity were significantly associated with medium or high versus low levels of stigma. Internal and external stigma were significantly associated with each other. Women who had been previously raped reported less stigma. The SEM showed a direct path between food insecurity and rape stigma, with poorer women experiencing more stigma. Indirect paths were mediated by more traditional gender attitudes and childhood trauma experience and other trauma exposure. Our findings confirm the intersectionality of rape stigma, with its structural drivers of food insecurity and gender inequality, as well as its strong association with prior trauma exposure. Rape survivors may benefit from gender‐empowering psychological support that addresses blame and shame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sexual assault in South Africa has reached alarming proportions. Mental illness amongst offenders accused of rape is one of the complicating factors. Aim: To describe the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of alleged offenders accused of rape referred to a South African tertiary public psychiatric hospital for forensic evaluation, as well as describe the profile of the reported victims. Setting: Free State Psychiatric Complex (FSPC) Observation Ward, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study compiled a sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the FSPC for forensic assessment between 2011 and 2015. The study population comprised 159 alleged offenders. Sociodemographic data, mental status, clinical diagnoses, comorbid substance use and forensic outcomes were collected from clinical files. Results: All accused offenders were male with a median age of 30 years. About half obtained primary school level education. Unemployment was common (37.3%) with 40% receiving government grants. Most accused offenders were single (78.0%). Clinically, schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders were the most common diagnoses (30.8%), followed by intellectual disability (16.3%). Almost a third of the accused offenders did not suffer from any mental illness. Alcohol (20.1%) and cannabis use disorders (12.6%) were dominant comorbidities. After a 30-day evaluation period, 53.2% of alleged offenders were found competent to stand trial. The verdict of criminal responsibility was made for 43.7% of this sample. Conclusion: This study contributes data on sociodemographics, psychiatric morbidities and comorbidities and forensic findings amongst alleged offenders of rape referred for forensic assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High crime rates, use of violence by criminals, police brutality, corruption, rape by police officials and other forms of criminal misconduct against the police including the centralisation of specific specialised functions of policing, which was tantamount to taking away policing from the people at police station level, are some of the allegations which affects the image of the police as a legitimate organisation. Much of these allegations levelled by the community and the mass media are directed at the external and internal environments of the police. The aim of this article is to critically evaluate policing in South Africa, so that respect for the country and its citizens can be restored. For this discussion, the researcher collected qualitative information by means of a literature study and drew on his personal experience as a former senior police officer with the South African Police Service (SAPS). Prior to 1994, the call was for the rationalisation, restructuring and amalgamation of the police into a single police service that would enjoy legitimacy among all the communities of South Africa. Although the country embraced a new democratic dispensation in 1994, very little was done to implement transformational policies and processes to bring about systemic change in policing. A need for the change of the functioning of the police service in South Africa was identified, so that police officers may perform their role within the context of democratic principles and restore respect for the country and its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitutional Court’s decision in Tshabalala v S; Ntuli v S 2020 2 SACR 38 CC is undoubtedly a step in the right direction towards rape law reform in South Africa, however, this article challenges the court’s decision to extend the application of the common law doctrine to common law rape. It is argued that the court could have highlighted the power dynamics at play during the commission of rape without denouncing instrumentality as a central element of the crime. This article further argues that the Constitutional Court, in developing common law rape, should have taken into account that rape is a conduct/instrumental crime under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment 32 of 2007. Instead, the judgment now has the effect of creating different elements for common law rape, in cases where there is more than one perpetrator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares concepts of female identity, sexuality and agency in South African novelist J. M. Coetzee's "Disgrace" (1999) and Palestinian novelist Jabra Ibrahim Jabra's "The Journals of Sarab Affan" (1992). It specifically employs Edward Said's ideas on humanism, resistance and agency. In analyzing the colonial dynamics that secure a sovereign subject status for the West, Said's critical works such as "Orientalism" (1979), and "Culture and Imperialism" (1993) have been studied from a cultural perspective, focusing on the way he reads Western cultural representations of itself and the Other, and adding significantly to the field of postcolonial studies. Yet, Said's works are accused for relegating gender and sexual issues to a secondary position. In this article, I refute such an accusation. I argue that for Said, sexual and gender differences, similar to cultural differences, are fundamental constituents of the Otherness that is placed in contradistinction to the colonial, racial or gendered sovereign subject. To overcome such deep-seated concepts of Otherness and difference, Said introduces the concept of humanism as to understand human history as a continuous process of self-understanding and self-realization devoid of any gender, racial or ethnic bias. The paper argues that Coetzee's "Disgrace" and Jabria's "The Journals of Sarab Affan" exemplify Said's humanism. The two novels represent the complexities of the violent colonial experiences and heritage particularly for women, in modern South Africa and Palestine. For example, when white Lucy Lurie in "Disgrace" is gang-raped by black teenagers in post-apartheid South Africa, she neither tells the police about the identity of her rapists, nor leaves South Africa. Rather, Lucy realizes that rape is the price she has to pay to maintain the connection with her land and authentic South African identity under new power structures that still based on revenge, anger and discrimination. Likewise, highly educated and independent Palestinian Sarab Affan rethinks her identity as an Arab and a Palestinian woman as she undergoes disappointment and alienation in her patriarchal society. Sarab, like Lucy in "Disgrace", relates her personal sufferings to the wider political failure in Palestine as Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation organization (PLO) fight over power in colonized Palestine while unarmed Palestinian youth die in the intifada. However, Lucy finds agency in staying in South Africa while Sarab leaves the Arab world to live in France. The two women explore and resist sexist and racist structures, rethinking concepts of female agency, sexuality and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rape continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing South Africa, alongside poverty & joblessness that the government is trying hard to eradicate. Transkei region of the Eastern Cape can best be described as deeply rural with bad roads, unclean water supply, limited electricity, few telephone connections, very limited access to transport and health services. Violence including sexual assaults is a common problem in this region. Objective: To highlight the problem of sexual assault, pregnancy, and HIV infection among young girls in Transkei region of South Africa. Case History: This is a retrospective case report from the register of sexual assault at Sinawe Center of Mthatha General Hospital, Mthatha, South Africa. These are reports of two young girls who were repeatedly raped. Histories and findings of the physical examinations are described. Consequences of teenage pregnancies and HIV transmission are discussed. The issue of consent and teenagers' partners' responsibility is highlighted. Solutions to reduce re-victimisation are suggested. Conclusion: There is problem of sexual assaults, pregnancy, and HIV infection among young girls in the Transkei region of South Africa. There is a need to control this epidemic of sexual assaults to prevent HIV spread, and to prevent unwanted pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is known for having the highest number of sexual violence cases in the world. In response to these reports, the government has declared rape as a priority crime, and various measures have been put in place to address this scourge. Despite these measures, rape statistics have continued to escalate. It is against this background that this study sought to explore accounts of sexual offences, particularly reports of rape, from a sample of sex offenders. Data were drawn from five Correctional Centres in the Limpopo province. Nineteen sex offenders were selected through a purposive sampling approach and interviewed face-to-face. Discourse analysis was used to identify and analyse the patterns of talk that sex offenders drew upon to account for their sex offences. Findings revealed that 'blame' was the most dominant discourse cited. The 'rhetoric of blame' revolved around uncontained sexual desires, sexual entitlement, absent mothers, provocative dress code by women, and unfair laws that discriminated men when they asserted their sexual power in relationships with women. Multi-sectoral intervention strategies are recommended for deconstructing blame discourses that perpetuate rape offences in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this article, I examine the blurred lines between my own experience of violence in South Africa and that of the women I encountered while doing fieldwork in Pafuri, Mozambique. I centralize the importance of personal insight to deal with violent sexuality and rape and argue that reflection provides meaning to the process of ethnographic fieldwork. I examine the similarities between my own experience of violence in South Africa and that of my interlocutors in Mozambique, set within a regional political system that marginalizes women's experiences in both countries. While negative experiences of rape stem from a prejudiced history, I argue that these experiences can be overcome through rebirth or initiation. In my case, this was achieved through the personal level of transformation that fieldwork produced, while for women in Pafuri, the initiation (vukhomba) of young girls translates violence into empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Lucy's double predicaments as a white woman in post-apartheid South Africa in J.M. Coetzee's novel Disgrace. As an heir of settler history and as the other to men in the patriarchal society, Lucy becomes a scapegoat of history and is raped by three black men. With a post-colonial interpretation of Lucy's rape, this paper interprets Lucy's silence about her rape and subjection to the blacks as her efforts to achieve a peaceful relationship with the blacks. Her determination to love the child bred in hatred by the black rapists shows a hope of reconciliation between whites and blacks through forgiveness and love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological data on the prevalence and factors associated with sexual violence is critical to understanding the magnitude of the problem and designing effective interventions. Drawing from cross-sectional data from a South African university, we examined the prevalence and correlates of sexual violence among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW).Methods: We analysed data of 451 AGYW selected using stratified sampling. Sexual violence was defined as any sexual acts, and attempt to obtain sexual acts without consent. We used adjusted and unadjusted logistic regression models to examine the factors associated with exposure to sexual violence while controlling for relevant covariates.Results: The lifetime and past-year prevalence of sexual violence was 37.9% and 25.3%, respectively. A higher prevalence of sexual violence was reported by heavy episodic drinkers of alcohol (lifetime 48.4% and past year 34.0%), those who received insufficient financial support (lifetime 58.0% and past year 35.8%) compared to non-users of alcohol (lifetime 27.2% and past year 17.2%),) and those who received adequate financial support (lifetime 20.8% and past year 13.1%). AGYW who reported heavy episodic use of alcohol had higher odds of reporting lifetime (AOR: 1.86; 95% CI: 1.07-3.25) and past year (AOR: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.10-3.75) experience of sexual violence compared to non-users. However, individuals who received adequate family financial support were 76% and 65% less likely to report lifetime and past year experience of sexual violence than those who received inadequate family financial support. Also, AGYW who rated themselves as very religious were 80% and 75% less likely to report lifetime and past year experience of sexual violence compared to those who were not religious.Conclusion: Our study shows that sexual violence affects a large proportion of girls, requiring intervention that not only focuses on increasing social support for survivors, facilitating reporting, and ensuring perpetrators are convicted, but also target alcohol use reduction and poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African Constitution has been hailed as one of the most progressive in the world and has received high acclaim internationally (Mkhwanazi 2016:6). However, the war on women, their bodies and their right to self-determination persists, irrespective of the Constitution. Literature reveals experiences of brutal rapes and killings of black lesbian women, as well as mistreatment and hate speech in the name of morality against sex workers, women seeking abortions and HIV-positive women (Strode et al. 2012:64). Based on a desktop review of images and audio-visuals of women's narratives in South Africa, this paper finds that many of the country's contemporary social institutions, such as the state, family, church and culture, amongst others, normalise forms of gendered violence, such as the policing, control and exploitation of women's lives and bodies through cultural practices like ukuthwala and ukuhlolwa kwobuntombi. Research findings also include narratives of women, who - in spite of prevailing social and institutionalised violence - have leveraged personal agency to declare autonomy and make personal choices regarding their bodies and lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inadequate toilet facilities may increase women's risk of experiencing non-partner sexual violence. We sought to assess the association between young (18–24 year-olds) women's access to toilets and past year non-partner rape experience, in deprived communities in South Africa. Data came from cross-sectional, population-based survey from poor communities from four health districts in two provinces, namely, City of Johannesburg, and Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, and eThekwini and uMgungundlovu, in KwaZulu-Natal. Descriptive, unadjusted and adjusted associations, were estimated in STATA/IC16, accounting for study design. In total, 10,635 young women provided data on toilet access. Past year non-partner rape prevalence was 5.7%. In adjusted analyses, those reporting a shared toilet were more likely to report past year experience of non-partner rape (adjusted odds ratio: 1.45, 95% confidence intervals [1.17, 1.80]), compared to those with their own toilet indoors. Improving access to private, secure toilets is an important component for the prevention of non-partner sexual violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instances of gender-based violence (GBV) on university campuses are rarely reported to the authorities. This makes it difficult to gauge the prevalence of this problem, which in turn affects efforts for prevention. This article describes a university-wide online survey aimed at assessing, first, the prevalence of GBV experienced by the three sectors in the community—students, academic and research staff, and professional/administrative staff. Many of the findings concurred with research elsewhere—students were the predominant victims of GBV; men were the main perpetrators; and instances of rape occurred mainly when the victim/survivor was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In contrast to some of the more well-known U.S. surveys (e.g., Georgetown University), we found relatively few instances of students being exploited by staff members. Occurrences of contrapower harassment were also reported in our survey. The second aim investigated whether rape myth acceptance was related to experiences of GBV. We found that women who had these experiences were more rejecting of rape myths than women who had not had such experiences. The opposite was found for White men. White men who had experienced GBV were more accepting of the rape myths than those who had not had such experiences. It was suggested that this reflected a need for these male victims to establish their hegemonic masculine identity. In general, the level of rape myth acceptance was relatively low. This suggested that widespread victim-blame, and self-blame does not account for the low levels of GBV reports to officials. A limitation of the study was the relatively low response rate (1,350 respondents), which was likely caused by the student protests over university fees that were ongoing at the time of the survey. These protests caused considerable disturbance for all sectors of the university community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An upsurge in the rate of violence against women has an adverse effect on women in South Africa. Sadly, many South African women who are the victims of violent sexual conduct, such as, rape and other forms of violent sexual abuse, have in part contributed to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection among women. Of the 7,7 million South African living with HIV/AIDS in 2018, 4,7 million were women, while another 69 000 were among the new infections. They are more vulnerable to HIV infections with 21,17 percent of women living with the disease. Using personal conversations, literature searches and documents for primary and secondary data, this article argues that value orientation that ascribes superiority to men has damaging consequences on the status of women. South African women are exposed to violent habitual actions of men that denigrate their womanhood. The article, therefore, submits that there is a need to reinforce civil society and strengthen the justice system for the protection and promotion of the rights and freedom of women. Aside from this, the government should increase its commitment to the enforcement of requisite legislative frameworks that safeguard the rights and freedom of women, and review punishments for any acts of violence against women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]