Homophobic Rape in South Africa

South Africa is made up of diverse cultures and religions. The rural inhabitants of the country help in the survival of the cultural traditions. In general, all racial and ethnic groups have long-standing beliefs concerning gender roles. Most African traditional social organizations are patriarchal. The job of the men is to work out-door, and as a result, women have had to guarantee the day-to-day survival of their families. Yet the decision-making authority remains in the hands of men. Women have less gender and economic power than men and are considered powerless. Men are the center of society.

Regarding the other genders, Africa considers them western ideas and unAfrican. In South Africa, same-sex marriage laws came into the act during the year 2006. Although they are given equal rights even now in some small urban villages, it is lacking. Especially lesbian women from smaller towns are often the victims of violence and rape because South Africa has no specific hate crime legislation. The male rapists claim they do it with the intent of ‘curing’ her of her sexual orientations. Thereby calling it ‘corrective rapes’ or ‘curative rape’ now known as ‘homophobic rape’.

Corrective rape also called curative or homophobic rape is a hate crime in which one or more people are raped because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The common intention of rape is to turn the person heterosexual or to enforce conformity with gender stereotypes. Some people believe that corrective rape can “fix” homosexual people.