Corrective Rape 

‘ Will Any Excuse Do? ‘

 

 

VIOLENCE is VIOLENCE~~STOP!

 

“Corrective Rape,” often accompanied by vicious beatings or even murder, is intended to punish lesbians for not being heterosexual.  Female athletes are at higher risk because they are more likely to be out lesbians.  

 

Encouraging Girls to Play Sports

 is precarious under threat…..

 

South African filmmaker Kgomotso Matsunyane (left) and former Olympic Gold Medalist Julie Foudy speak to potential donors at a kickoff event in New York City for the Global Girl Media, which aims to train South African girls to use media to tell their stories. Photo Courtesy of Global Girl Media 

Read more: http://www.thegrio.com/sports/south-african-girls-learn

 

It is a growing phenomenon in South Africa – one that expresses a seemingly endemic homophobia and contempt for women.  

Despite liberal policies and the legality of gay marriage, GLBTQ people and women face stigma and discrimination not only from their peers but up to the highest levels of government:

 On paper, South Africa is among the world’s most progressive countries; its constitution emphasizes the rights of the individual, and gay marriage is legal. But South Africa’s constitutional aspirations run up hard against certain realities.

Before his election, President Jacob Zuma was tried for raping (not corrective rape) an 30-year-old family acquaintance. He was acquitted, but his attitudes about gay marriage — which he has condemned — and gays and lesbians in general reflect the prejudices of many of his constituents.

President Jacob Zuma ~~~ Without Prejudice

“When I was growing up, [a homosexual] would not have stood in front of me,” Zuma said.

“I would knock him out.”

But the persecution isn’t just national, it’s local:

…Rape often is difficult to prove, for a variety of reasons, but South Africa’s laws, more than those of most nations, vigilantly protect the rights of the accused, which is unsurprising in a country in which most people were denied their rights for so long. This vigilance has resulted in extremely low conviction rates.

 

Homophobia setting in….

…stripping Women of Rights to their Own Sexuality!

 

…”If I walk with my partner, my girlfriend,” Mkhuma says, “the very same people from where I stay, boys, they will say things, they will say, ‘Please don’t walk like a guy because the guy proved to you that you are a woman, you know.’ They would laugh. They make that as a joke.”

No person should have to face this emotional and physical abuse, as there is absolutely NO EXC– USE for this Violence against Women, regardless of sexuality.

South Africa has the honor and responsiblity of hosting Soccer’s World Cup starting this month.  Its goverment surely owes it to their female athletes, and to all women and GLBTQ people,  to condemn and eradicate this disgusting crime.  

 

…..listen First Hand….. 

The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa’s acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found in a creek in a park in Kwa Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. As well as being one of South Africa’s best-known female footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights campaigners and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in Kwa Thema. 12/2009.