This “one in four” is not referring to the “1 in 4 college women have been raped” stat – today this 1 in 4 refers to new perpetrator data out of South Africa.

One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country’s endemic culture of sexual violence.

Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.
Of those surveyed, 28% said they had raped a woman or girl, and 3% said they had raped a man or boy. Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once, with 73% saying they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.

The study, which had British funding, also found that men who are physically violent towards women are twice as likely to be HIV-positive. They are also more likely to pay for sex and to not use condoms.

Any woman raped by a man over the age of 25 has a one in four chance of her attacker being HIV-positive.

I can’t speak to the merits of the study itself, not being a researcher, but the numbers are pretty shocking. As is the link to HIV transmission at such high rates.

The study also points to some concrete dimensions of prevention, noting that 73% of the respondents who admitted rape, had done so before the age of 20. Many men who admitted to rape also rated their parental relationships to be “not kind” and had been exposed to trauma in childhood. Prevention must start early.

Click here for the Executive Summary of the study. Thanks to Nora for the info on this story.

There is a commonly held belief in Zimbabwe that if a man with HIV or AIDS (or virtually any STD) rapes a virgin, he will be cured. You can imagine how much damage this so-called “virgin myth” can cause– hundreds of girls, some of them not old enough to walk, are raped for this reason.

What makes this situation worse is that many traditional faith healers in Zimbabwe still push this false cure, and by doing so not only cause hundreds of rapes, but also potentially hundreds of new HIV cases.

According to Science in Africa, this myth also has hold in India and Thailand, as well other developing countries with large numbers of HIV/AIDS populations. Some believe the myth originated from Christian legends of virgin martyrs, in which their purity served as a form of protection in battling demons. The myth began to gain prominence in 19th century Victorian England.

One organization looking to help those affected by this myth is the Girl Child Network Worldwide, which provides leadership training for thousands of girls across Zimbabwe. The founder, Betty Makoni, was raped at six years old, and unlike her mother who endured domestic violence, she was determined to not sweep the issue under the rug.

Zelda Lily also has a great blog post on the topic, as does gottalove.

Last month, 17-year-old Aasiya Jan and her 22-year-old sister-in-law, Nilofar Shakeel were raped and murdered in South Kashmir’s Shopian, allegedly by members of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force. The allegations have ignited separatist calls, and thousands of women have been involved in public demonstrations against the crimes.

From Kashmir Watch:

At Kashmir University, the highest learning institute of the valley, hundreds of girls staged peaceful demonstrations to protest the alleged rape and murder of the Shopian teenage girl and her sister-in-law last month. Chanting “We want Freedom,” “Islam Zindabad,” “Punish the killers,” the protesters accused the government of trying to hush up the case to shield the culprits.

“Through today’s protest we want to convey to the government that we’ll not tolerate the rape and murder of our sisters. If the government would have been serious, by now the culprits should have been hanged,” an M.A student wishing not to be named told Press Bureau of India.

Of course, complicating the issue is the rift that still exists between the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir and India, with human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch saying that sexual violence is used by Indian military to humiliate the population and to control separatist activities.

This is not the first major protest due to sexual violence committed by the Indian military. From the LA Times:

Shopian residents are particularly sensitive to such allegations because of an alleged mass rape in a Kashmiri village in 1991 in which male residents were driven out of about 45 houses by security personnel and the female residents then raped.

Since the demonstrations started, 400 have been injured and one killed, with general strikes and the shutting down of other services. Amnesty International has called on the Indian authorities to carry out impartial investigations, and condemned the use of live ammunition and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators.

Unfortunately, serious investigations into the sexual assault and deaths of the women didn’t begin soon enough. Police failed to interview certain witnesses even though a judicial inquiry was made. Some still feel that this was only done to subdue the growing protests, and that eventually those who are responsible (if found) will be quietly exonerated.

What is upsetting about this is that if not for the fact that there is still tension between Muslims in Kashmir and Indians, a serious investigation probably wouldn’t have happened. It takes political strife to force authorities to take sexual violence in some regions seriously, or to acknowledge it at all.

And for once, a good idea! Ashley’s last post about asking the victims from Abu Ghraib for their thoughts about the release of the photos got me thinking in general about how all of our talk (I, the media, etc.) surrounding the issue of sexual violence gets so wrapped up in theory and anger and statistics that we sometimes forget to consider the pragmatic needs and desires of the actual survivors. There is an impulse to shy away from such discussions, as of course everyone’s experience with assault is different and can be influenced by a huge number of factors, and we never want to tokenize or make assumptions. However, it is rare that I’ve come across (criminal justice-related) policy decisions that are informed by a large-scale survey of those who have been/will be most impacted by that policy’s success or failure. Usually victims of violence are thrown into the policy debate individually by policy makers as a political tool, such as using one child’s rape and murder to pass laws that will make a given politician look “tough on crime” during an election year.

Britain might be taking a different, and far improved route. Disturbed by the fact that England and Wales’ rape conviction rates now hover around 6.5%, (the general criminal conviction rate in England is 34%) the “policing standards watchdog, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary,” will perform a “rape audit” next year.  Details are scarce, but the idea is that “[r]ape victims are to be asked why they feel that they are being failed by the criminal justice system.” If done sensitively and thoroughly, this could provide us with a wealth of important information on rape survivors’ experience with the criminal justice system and open doors for effective interventions. The Guardian cites police, prosecution, and jury skepticism of rape victims’ reports as likely reasons for the low conviction rates. Hopefully the unfortunate realities unearthed by such an “audit” will help to sway public opinion and inform professional training on the issue.

And speaking of public opinion…let’s look at the comments at the Times Online’s “audit” article, shall we? As I write this, there are currently 30 comments. Of these, 10 comments are concerned with false rape allegations—i.e., “the 2% to 9% false allegation rate reported here is bullshit, it’s really much higher” or “what about punishment for all of the women who make false allegations??!?!?!” (for the record, judging by the names of these commenters, all of them appear to be male). Amongst these 10, and in about two more comments, there is also the general feeling that you can never really make an honest rape conviction since it’s always a case of one person’s word against another (and don’t forget about the influence of alcohol!!!!). Jim from Ipswich sums up my thoughts with his comment: “Interesting that, out of the 3 (male) comments here so far, 2 pose questions of the victim and not the agressor. Perhaps this accounts for the results the article discusses.” Thank you, Jim.

To end on a couple of less anger-inducing comments (or rather, still incredibly upsetting and infuriating just in a very very different way):

My daughter was repeatedly raped by her violent (now ex) partner who is still very aggressive towards her. Not only were the rape allegations belittled (she is pregnant as a result of the rapes), the ongoing abuse is being dismissed by police as trivial & insignificant. No wonder she’s suicidal!

AJP, St Albans, UK

I am a detective and I investigate rape daily. I can confirm that in my policing area false allegations represent a minute proportion of complaints. The vast majority of complainants are very brave and deserve justice. The difficulty is in reaching the required burden of proof on consent.

John, Hampshire, UK

(h/t abyss2hope, That’s Why I’m A  Feminist)