28% of South African men admit to rape. Is this true?

[brickbacon]

While reading this article about female condoms with teeth that are designed to prevent rape, I came around the following statistic:

“South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world, Human Rights Watch says on its website. A 2009 report by the nation’s Medical Research Council found that 28 percent of men surveyed had raped a woman or girl, with one in 20 saying they had raped in the past year, according to Human Rights Watch.”]

It kinda set off my bs detector, so I did a bit of digging. Apparently, the number comes from Professor Rachel Jewkes and her colleagues at the Medical Research Council. They interviewed a representative sample of 1,738 men in South Africa’s Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

Not know too much about the scientists, or the areas where the study was conducted, is it possible that the figure is really that high? Are there other study that corroborate those numbers? Thanks in advance.

[Markxxx]

South Africa has an astonishingly high crime rate. It’s often cited as the highest crime rate of anywhere that is not a war zone.

Of course some cites like Cape Town are safter than others like Johannesburg, but you can always change the way you look at statistics. I’ve seen stats that describe Johannesburg as safer than Detroit or Washington DC.

There is a tribal belief among some Africans in Southern Africa that having sex with a virgin can cleanse the body of AIDS. Though I don’t see how that ties in with violent rape as you’d have no idea if the person you raped was a virgin. But that may inflate the figure somewhat.

[code_grey]

it would be more useful if they were to actually try collect the data on the types of “rape” involved. The modern Western standard is pretty low, e.g. pressuring your girlfriend into doing the deed overly enthusiastically can hit rape pretty quickly, and this fact is probably reflected in the wording of surveys. But their local standards (the stuff in their heads, not in the government lawbooks) may well be very different. E.g. maybe the intense pressuring is part and parcel of the culture and only violent assault, or even violent assault on a stranger, would qualify as a serious crime.

[Rigamarole]

@Markxxx

There is a tribal belief among some Africans in Southern Africa that having sex with a virgin can cleanse the body of AIDS.

Wow, what a great way to spread more AIDS. Good old Africa.

[alphaboi867]

@Markxxx

…Though I don’t see how that ties in with violent rape as you’d have no idea if the person you raped was a virgin. But that may inflate the figure somewhat.

The younger a girl is the greater the odds that she’s a virgin.

[Der_Trihs]

@alphaboi867

The younger a girl is the greater the odds that she’s a virgin.

To make it clear, we are talking about young girls and even infants, here.

[merrick]

The socially-accepted standards do seem to be different.

A recent Economist report on South Africa repeats the 28% figure and quotes another CSVR study as reporting “most black women believe that a man has a right to have sex with his wife whenever he wants. A majority of teenage boys and girls say it is not sexual violence to force sex on someone you know or who has accepted a drink from you.”

Nothing about AIDS there, more indifference to women’s rights (as understood in the modern West).

[Acsenray]

@Rigamarole

Good old Africa.

:dubious:

[BigT]

@merrick

The socially-accepted standards do seem to be different.

A recent Economist report on South Africa repeats the 28% figure and quotes another CSVR study as reporting “most black women believe that a man has a right to have sex with his wife whenever he wants. A majority of teenage boys and girls say it is not sexual violence to force sex on someone you know or who has accepted a drink from you.”

Nothing about AIDS there, more indifference to women’s rights (as understood in the modern West).

This is why I would consider the number of self-reporters suspect. Surely rape has much more stringent requirements there.

[Superhal]

Keep looking at the stats, South Africa is considered the “rape capital of the world.”

I do a lecture on rape, and about 2 years ago, the odds of a woman being sexually assaulted in the US in her lifetime is 1 in 5. This includes attempted rape and rapes that were unsuccessful. In South Africa, the number was 1 in 3 of being raped (only successfully.) When I updated the stats last year, the number is now 1 in 2. Also, women in South Africa who have been raped have an 80% chance of being raped again.

[Cardinal]

@acsenray

:dubious:

That’s not entirely appropriate. Way too many nominations on this board for biggest hell hole on Earth were from that continent. It doesn’t make you racist to notice. Go to the current thread on why Africa has so many problems for a better discussion of possibilities as to why.

I admit that there are plenty of other places I’d rather not be, but Africa’s percentage of kleptocracies and general hell holes is depressingly large.