Lesbians subjected to "corrective rape" in South Africa

Lesbians living in South Africa are being subjected to "corrective rape" and severe violence by men trying to "cure" them of their sexual orientation, human rights groups have said.

Telegraph.co.uk Last Updated: 1:12AM GMT 13 Mar 2009

 

A report by the international NGO ActionAid, backed by the South African Human Rights Commission, said the horrific crimes against lesbians were going unrecognised by the state and unpunished by the legal system.

 

The report called for South Africa's criminal justice system to recognise the rapes as hate crimes in an attempt to force police to take action over the rising tide of violence.

 

The ferocity of the attack became clear in April last year when Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's national female football squad, became one of the victims. Miss Simelane, and equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian, was gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs.

 

But scores more women have been deliberately targeted for rape, the Guardian reports.

 

"Every day I am told that they are going to kill me, that they are going to rape me and after they rape me I'll become a girl," Zakhe Sowello from Soweto, told the paper. "When you are raped you have a lot of evidence on your body. But when we try and report these crimes nothing happens, and then you see the boys who raped you walking free on the street."

 

Research shows 86 per cent of black lesbians from the Western Cape live in fear of sexual assault. Triangle, a gay rights organisation, said it deals with up to 10 new cases of "corrective rape" every week.

"What we're seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them," Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive at Triangle, told the paper.

 

Support groups claim an increasingly macho political environment led to inaction over attacks.

A statement released by South Africa's national prosecuting authority said: "While hate crimes – especially of a sexual nature – are rife, it is not something that the South African government has prioritised as a specific project."

 

Human rights and equality campaigners are hoping that the public outrage and disgust at Miss Simelane's death and the July trial of the three men accused of her rape and murder will help put an end to the spiralling violence.

 

Any comments on this terrible story?

 

Africa was better when it was under colonial rule, since the end of the empire and the end of Western rule Africa has shown it is incapable of managing its own affairs, embracing democracy, engaging in standards of behaviour and morals that are acceptable and so on

Edited March 14, 200916 yr by B.A Baracus

Africa was better when it was under colonial rule, since the end of the empire and the end of Western rule Africa has shown it is incapable of managing its own affairs, embracing democracy, engaging in standards of behaviour and morals that are acceptable and so on

 

he he....ill let scott handle this! :lol:

 

 

its deploreable .... erm, thats about all i can say on the matter atm.

Africa was better when it was under colonial rule, since the end of the empire and the end of Western rule Africa has shown it is incapable of managing its own affairs, embracing democracy, engaging in standards of behaviour and morals that are acceptable and so on

 

And what of the "morals" that Colonial rule taught Africa.....? So, you imagine that "rapes" by the colonials did not occur... What utter PISH Craig, sometimes you spout as much nonsense as Crazy Chris, as if two wrongs actually make a right.... You want to know why this sort of thing is ultimately happening in Africa...? It's the influence of the Catholic Church, and of fanatical Islam.... Why do you think that AIDS is so rife in Africa and that population control is virtually non-existant...? Again, because of the Catholic Church's influence and their position on birth control.... Zuma is a very "religious" man apparently.... <_< Human Rights watch are doing good work in exposing this, but it will ultimately achieve very little... Perhaps if the Pope were to threaten some of these these b'astards in the various African Govts with excommunication if they dont mend their ways..... Yeah, let's all hold our breath waiting for that one to happen, because that would entail the Catholic Church actually admitting they were wrong..... :rolleyes:

 

Africans have had no idea how to run their own affairs because we, the Great Colonial Masters, kept them deliberately ignorant of being able to do so, we've had hundreds of years to get it right in Europe and the US, and NO ONE interfered with our development, Africa has only had a few decades, and is under seige from Multinationals and other sources exploiting them left, right and centre.. Fair Trade...?? My arse.... so-called "fair trade" is, in reality, just a slightly smaller stick with which the rural African peasants are beaten with... Fair Trade exists only to salve the consciecese of the Lentil burger eating, white middle class liberal arseholes who go around Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons feeling better about themselves because they've bought into this utter fukkin' illusion of smiling African people on adverts.. Probably "smiling" only because if they dont, the soldiers off camera with the AK47s will blast their heads off if they dont....

 

Your whole hypothesis of "africa was better under our control" should actually read "Africa was better off when we were DIRECTLY exploiting her....". We are both shameful and shameless in how we in the West have treated Africa.... The West deserves to burn in Hell for the evils we have inflicted upon that continent, and, sorry but it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than Comic Relief every two fukkin' years to sort this sh!t out.....

And what of the "morals" that Colonial rule taught Africa.....? So, you imagine that "rapes" by the colonials did not occur... What utter PISH Craig, sometimes you spout as much nonsense as Crazy Chris, as if two wrongs actually make a right.... You want to know why this sort of thing is ultimately happening in Africa...? It's the influence of the Catholic Church, and of fanatical Islam.... Why do you think that AIDS is so rife in Africa and that population control is virtually non-existant...? Again, because of the Catholic Church's influence and their position on birth control.... Zuma is a very "religious" man apparently.... <_<

 

Africans have had no idea how to run their own affairs because we, the Great Colonial Masters, kept them deliberately ignorant of being able to do so, we've had hundreds of years to get it right in Europe and the US, and NO ONE interfered with our development, Africa has only had a few decades, and is under seige from Multinationals and other sources exploiting them left, right and centre.. Fair Trade...?? My arse.... so-called "fair trade" is, in reality, just a slightly smaller stick with which the rural African peasants are beaten with... Fair Trade exists only to salve the consciecese of the Lentil burger eating, white middle class liberal arseholes who go around Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons feeling better about themselves because they've bought into this utter fukkin' illusion of smiling African people on adverts.. Probably "smiling" only because if they dont, the soldiers off camera with the AK47s will blast their heads off if they dont....

 

Your whole hypothesis of "africa was better under our control" should actually read "Africa was better off when we were DIRECTLY exploiting her....". We are both shameful and shameless in how we in the West have treated Africa.... The West deserves to burn in Hell for the evils we have inflicted upon that continent, and, sorry but it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than Comic Relief every two fukkin' years to sort this sh!t out.....

 

it is not just this though and AIDS etc, the fact is that Africa is a complete and utter mess, how many countries there have fully fledged democracy and free elections ? I would be surprised if there was any aside of maybe Egypt and one or two others, civil wars and child soldiers are rife throughout the continent, then we have Mugabe in Zimbabwe and atrocities in recent years in Rwanda, Liberia, Somalia to name but a few places, would Zimbabwe be in the state it is now with multi million % inflation, ethnic cleansing of the white population, famine and so on if Ian Smith and his gang were still in power and the country was under Western rule ? has Guinea-Bassau been any better since the Portuguese gave the place independence ? no, the recent killings of the president and army chief and the fact elections there have been as legit as Mugabe's wins have proved the place was better off under Portuguese rule, is Congo better off withiout Belgian rule ? Congo is a complete and utter mess almost Zimbabwe level, yes there was some downsides to colonial/western rule but Africa is a complete and untter mess when it has been allowed to have control over its own affairs

it is not just this though and AIDS etc, the fact is that Africa is a complete and utter mess, how many countries there have fully fledged democracy and free elections ? I would be surprised if there was any aside of maybe Egypt and one or two others, civil wars and child soldiers are rife throughout the continent, then we have Mugabe in Zimbabwe and atrocities in recent years in Rwanda, Liberia, Somalia to name but a few places, would Zimbabwe be in the state it is now with multi million % inflation, ethnic cleansing of the white population, famine and so on if Ian Smith and his gang were still in power and the country was under Western rule ? has Guinea-Bassau been any better since the Portuguese gave the place independence ? no, the recent killings of the president and army chief and the fact elections there have been as legit as Mugabe's wins have proved the place was better off under Portuguese rule, is Congo better off withiout Belgian rule ? Congo is a complete and utter mess almost Zimbabwe level, yes there was some downsides to colonial/western rule but Africa is a complete and untter mess when it has been allowed to have control over its own affairs

 

Are you actually serious with that....??? Because if you are, then you are totally ignorant of what "good" King Leopold actually DID in Congo.... He massacred thousands upon thousands of Congolese people.... Yeah, SO FUKKIN' CIVILISED mate.... <_< <_< You've clearly never read any history written from the perspectives of African, Indians or Afro Caribbeans have you....? Well, I suggest you damn well READ a few books mate, and get a different perspective, and then, just maybe you wouldn't be so quick to spout such utter cr@p about how "great" things were under colonial rule.... Then again, I'm hardly surprised to find you spouting this sort of cack, you think that Palestinians are better off being oppressed and/or exterminated by ZIONISTS, so that kind of rules out you having any sort of valid opinion on this issue..... <_< <_<

 

Yes, things are bad in Africa, but Colonialism is hardly the fukkin' cure for the disease... Colonialism was the cause of the disease in the first place.... yeah, man, go and spout that cr'p to African people.. Tell me how that one works out for you.... I know people who are refugees from places like Congo... And, trust me, as bad as things may have been for them, the very LAST thing that they would want is the return of the fukkin' BELGIANS.....

And what of the "morals" that Colonial rule taught Africa.....? So, you imagine that "rapes" by the colonials did not occur... What utter PISH Craig, sometimes you spout as much nonsense as Crazy Chris, as if two wrongs actually make a right.... You want to know why this sort of thing is ultimately happening in Africa...? It's the influence of the Catholic Church, and of fanatical Islam.... Why do you think that AIDS is so rife in Africa and that population control is virtually non-existant...? Again, because of the Catholic Church's influence and their position on birth control.... Zuma is a very "religious" man apparently.... <_< Human Rights watch are doing good work in exposing this, but it will ultimately achieve very little... Perhaps if the Pope were to threaten some of these these b'astards in the various African Govts with excommunication if they dont mend their ways..... Yeah, let's all hold our breath waiting for that one to happen, because that would entail the Catholic Church actually admitting they were wrong..... :rolleyes:

 

Africans have had no idea how to run their own affairs because we, the Great Colonial Masters, kept them deliberately ignorant of being able to do so, we've had hundreds of years to get it right in Europe and the US, and NO ONE interfered with our development, Africa has only had a few decades, and is under seige from Multinationals and other sources exploiting them left, right and centre.. Fair Trade...?? My arse.... so-called "fair trade" is, in reality, just a slightly smaller stick with which the rural African peasants are beaten with... Fair Trade exists only to salve the consciecese of the Lentil burger eating, white middle class liberal arseholes who go around Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons feeling better about themselves because they've bought into this utter fukkin' illusion of smiling African people on adverts.. Probably "smiling" only because if they dont, the soldiers off camera with the AK47s will blast their heads off if they dont....

 

Your whole hypothesis of "africa was better under our control" should actually read "Africa was better off when we were DIRECTLY exploiting her....". We are both shameful and shameless in how we in the West have treated Africa.... The West deserves to burn in Hell for the evils we have inflicted upon that continent, and, sorry but it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than Comic Relief every two fukkin' years to sort this sh!t out.....

I'm sure Africa is improving in terms of how peaceful it is, and i'm sure that it will improve a lot more in the next few decades. I can't back up that statement properly :lol:, but death rates have dropped and birth rates are dropping too, and there should be many countries in Africa that are better developed than parts of Europe were in the early 20th century imo. Of course there is no going back now, otherwise all these struggles will just happen all over again.

Oh, and maybe you should calm down :o.

I'm sure Africa is improving in terms of how peaceful it is, and i'm sure that it will improve a lot more in the next few decades. I can't back up that statement properly :lol:, but death rates have dropped and birth rates are dropping too, and there should be many countries in Africa that are better developed than parts of Europe were in the early 20th century imo. Of course there is no going back now, otherwise all these struggles will just happen all over again.

Oh, and maybe you should calm down :o.

:lol: He likes typing long-winding paragraphs to give much detail. I get more idea and info from that (Cheers! :lol:), sometimes though, it's bit unclear, breaking few sentences into paragraphs will do perhaps. LOL, I better stop ranting before I'll get a rant, I just hate being dead serious. :D

 

Ehem... for the issue, there are still some parts of South Africa that are not developed properly. :(

If the problems rise on it, there will be much less people living in South Africa overall/less population.

Bad things getting worse? Booooring.

 

How about Comic Relief every year? ;)

Edited March 15, 200916 yr by funmaker11

it is not just this though and AIDS etc, the fact is that Africa is a complete and utter mess, how many countries there have fully fledged democracy and free elections ? I would be surprised if there was any aside of maybe Egypt and one or two others, civil wars and child soldiers are rife throughout the continent, then we have Mugabe in Zimbabwe and atrocities in recent years in Rwanda, Liberia, Somalia to name but a few places, would Zimbabwe be in the state it is now with multi million % inflation, ethnic cleansing of the white population, famine and so on if Ian Smith and his gang were still in power and the country was under Western rule ? has Guinea-Bassau been any better since the Portuguese gave the place independence ? no, the recent killings of the president and army chief and the fact elections there have been as legit as Mugabe's wins have proved the place was better off under Portuguese rule, is Congo better off withiout Belgian rule ? Congo is a complete and utter mess almost Zimbabwe level, yes there was some downsides to colonial/western rule but Africa is a complete and untter mess when it has been allowed to have control over its own affairs

 

I have a real problem with this. If you're measuring success by "democracy and free elections" then how can you possibly support colonialism, which is damned near the exact opposite of democracy and local sovereignty?

, and there should be many countries in Africa that are better developed than parts of Europe were in the early 20th century imo.

 

Damn right there should be... Africa is absolutely RICH in natural resources such as copper, iron, tin, diamonds, gold, oil.... And yet, their people have seen absolutely NO BENEFITS from it... Contrast this with oil rich Arab states such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen..... Of course, it's pretty obvious WHY this occured, the Oil rich ME states got together to form OPEC, in which they can effectively dictate terms, and they can make things pretty uncomfortable for the West when they want to....

 

No such thing exists for resource-rich African nations, more's the pity, because it would almost certainly lead to considerably less exploitation IMO.... Mainly because the Multinationals wouldn't allow such a thing to happen...

 

And what of the "morals" that Colonial rule taught Africa.....? So, you imagine that "rapes" by the colonials did not occur... What utter PISH Craig, sometimes you spout as much nonsense as Crazy Chris, as if two wrongs actually make a right.... You want to know why this sort of thing is ultimately happening in Africa...? It's the influence of the Catholic Church, and of fanatical Islam.... Why do you think that AIDS is so rife in Africa and that population control is virtually non-existant...? Again, because of the Catholic Church's influence and their position on birth control.... Zuma is a very "religious" man apparently.... <_< Human Rights watch are doing good work in exposing this, but it will ultimately achieve very little... Perhaps if the Pope were to threaten some of these these b'astards in the various African Govts with excommunication if they dont mend their ways..... Yeah, let's all hold our breath waiting for that one to happen, because that would entail the Catholic Church actually admitting they were wrong..... :rolleyes:

 

Africans have had no idea how to run their own affairs because we, the Great Colonial Masters, kept them deliberately ignorant of being able to do so, we've had hundreds of years to get it right in Europe and the US, and NO ONE interfered with our development, Africa has only had a few decades, and is under seige from Multinationals and other sources exploiting them left, right and centre.. Fair Trade...?? My arse.... so-called "fair trade" is, in reality, just a slightly smaller stick with which the rural African peasants are beaten with... Fair Trade exists only to salve the consciecese of the Lentil burger eating, white middle class liberal arseholes who go around Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons feeling better about themselves because they've bought into this utter fukkin' illusion of smiling African people on adverts.. Probably "smiling" only because if they dont, the soldiers off camera with the AK47s will blast their heads off if they dont....

 

Your whole hypothesis of "africa was better under our control" should actually read "Africa was better off when we were DIRECTLY exploiting her....". We are both shameful and shameless in how we in the West have treated Africa.... The West deserves to burn in Hell for the evils we have inflicted upon that continent, and, sorry but it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than Comic Relief every two fukkin' years to sort this sh!t out.....

 

that is an argument FOR colonialisation! :lol:

 

in the real world an underrdeveloped country like africa was ALWAYS going to be invaded by other countries who were more developed as they expanded. of course we could have left them in the stoneage, ignorant, unhealthy, in poverty. colonialism by todays standerds is unacceptable, but back then it was 'the right thing' to do.

 

there IS an argument that would suggest that they WOULD have been better off under 'our' rule (along with the french, dutch, etc) as in you words 'they only had a few decades to become civilised'... would the african countries be better of now under our rule then the mess they have? YES i believe so... and its the 'doo gooders' who insist that they should run their own country (thats YOU! :)) that have caused this mess...lol..

 

but seriously, it was either leave them in the stoneage, along with aids, or help them develop as we exploited them...

 

but seriously, it was either leave them in the stoneage, along with aids, or help them develop as we exploited them...

 

Kipling lives! :lol:

 

The idea of colonialism "developing" nations and fulfilling some noble duty (White Man's Burden, etc.) came at the very end of the era of colonialism and was mostly limited to British colonies. The vast majority of colonial exploits (in Latin America, East Asia, Africa and the Middle East) from the 15th through 20th centuries were characterized by brutality and genocide, funneling satellite resources back to the European power, human trafficking and slave trade, forced religious conversion, devastation of local culture, religion, race and identity. And frankly the notion that even the gentler, modern British colonialism of the 20th century is somehow noble or moral is extremely dubious.

Kipling lives! :lol:

 

The idea of colonialism "developing" nations and fulfilling some noble duty (White Man's Burden, etc.) came at the very end of the era of colonialism and was mostly limited to British colonies. The vast majority of colonial exploits (in Latin America, East Asia, Africa and the Middle East) from the 15th through 20th centuries were characterized by brutality and genocide, funneling satellite resources back to the European power, human trafficking and slave trade, forced religious conversion, devastation of local culture, religion, race and identity. And frankly the notion that even the gentler, modern British colonialism of the 20th century is somehow noble or moral is extremely dubious.

 

:lol: true, but i was baiting scott.... :lol:

How awful and to see there's still this sense of homophobia going around resulting in this and rape, torturing, murder etc. It's people concepts which are wrong and legisilation as well as the goverment to get involved in resolving issues of this nature, which easily blow out of the control. I wouldn't say that SA is a complete mess, I think despite the corrupt goverment we're still a developing country with plenty of potential and that we as a whole are making a success and investmentment of our country. But then like the others said you get the Zimbabwes and Somalias ..for which people can only pray. The situation now has nothing to do with the colonists and times have changed if there's a crisis in an african country, you can't blame it on the colonists. The country's government brought it upon itself. It's been 15 years since apartheid in SA and still look at how the black unemployed blame apartheid for their situatuio even with the likes of B.E.E. being implement there's still this idea to blame what goes wrong on apartheid or colonialism.. Whatever wrong happens in Africa, was brought upon by themselves and only themselves. Apartheid and colonialism isnt involved in the slightest unless you're stuck in your 'colonialism-destroyed-africa' mindset. I'm positive that every african country is capable of managing itself successfully even after colonialism or even if there wasn't!