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The
African Myth: Child rape and cure
for AIDS
Child
victims of sexual violence in
Africa today face a
bizarre social and cultural maze of
ignorance, desperation, tribal
tradition, dark religion, poverty
and the power of myth and sex.
As
the AIDS crisis in these regions
devastates countless young victims,
others are seriously impacted by the
teachings of Natural Healers,
also known as Sangomas and Muti men.
The central concept of these
teachings, offered to adult men who
may be sick and in fear of death, is
that sexual relations with a young
virgin will cure AIDS. Suzanne
McCleric-Madlala, an anthropologist,
lecturer and researcher at the
University of Durban-Westville,
South Africa,
says that both AIDS and the ‘child
rape myth’ have put young girls and
infants at risk. "The rapist
believes that having sex with a
virgin can cleanse them of AIDS.”
She adds that child rape is also
committed to avoid contracting the
AIDS virus from older women.
Tragically, many of these victims
are under eight-years old.
The
AIDS Crisis, unfortunately, is not
the only issue when it comes to
child rape issues in
Africa. The 2002 World
Health Organization ‘World Report on
Violence and Health’ indicates that
medical clinics in
Johannesburg,
South Africa,
report that one-third of all cases
of rape they see are instances of
gang-rape (with two or more
perpetrators). Young men, who may be
members of gangs, can view gang rape
as punishment for women who are
caught flirting--and even as a
matter of family honor. Laws and
policies to protect women in many
areas are inadequate, perpetrators
are often not prosecuted, evidence
or testimony by the female victims
can be disallowed, and the man can
be excused of his deed if he
"marries" the victim. Social norms
provide for the male’s "sexual
entitlement," and females have few
options to refuse sex.
As an
example of the pervasive feeling
among young African males, a survey
of 1,500 students in South Africa’s
sprawling Black townships found that
25 percent of boys between ages 12
and 22 years-old consider gang-rape
as being "fun," and another 16
percent said it was "cool." To
quote from the report, "A growing
number of studies, particularly from
sub-Saharan
Africa, indicate that
the first sexual experience of girls
is often unwanted and forced. In a
case-controlled study, for example,
of 191 adolescent girls (about age
16), attending an antenatal clinic
in Cape Town, Africa, and 353
non-pregnant adolescents matched for
age and neighborhood or school, 31.9
percent of the study cases reported
that force was used during their
sexual initiation. When asked about
the consequences of refusing sex, 78
percent of the study cases said they
feared being beaten if they refused
to have sex (World Report on Health
and Violence, WHO, 2002)."
The
eradication of this belief and the
terrible toll it takes on the young
and the innocent are starting points
for
CIFKIDS efforts to
help build a secure future for all
Southern Africans.
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