Study: 1 in 3 South African Men Admits to Committing Rape

A study commissioned by the Medical Research Foundation, a group funded by the South African government, has yielded some disturbing findings about violence against women. According to the study, one in three men in Johannesburg has committed rape at some point. Roughly 7 percent of the men sampled admitted to participating in a gang rape.

The study also found that more than 51 percent of the 511 women surveyed had been victims of violence from men. Also, 78 percent of men admitted to committing a violent act against a woman. One-fourth of the women in the survey said that they'd been raped, but only about 4 percent of these rapes are reported to police.

These findings are similar to a 2008 study that found that 28 percent of the men in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces had committed rape against a woman or girl. One-third of the men said they did not feel guilty for what they'd done. Two-thirds of the men claimed to have committed rape out of a sense of entitlement, and others raped out of boredom or a desire to punish women who'd rejected them.

The study's author, Rachel Jewkes, said that apartheid may have played a role in creating a culture in which violence against women has been trivialized.

"Apartheid has contributed to culture of impunity surrounding rape in South Africa," said Jewkes, who added that men who experienced trauma or were abused were more likely to commit rape than other men.

Jewke's remarks about the impact of apartheid on violent behavior obviously makes me think about the United States of America. Americanized apartheid, in which a black underclass was created via oppressive forces, also fostered a culture in which women are consistently disrespected in media, treated as sex objects and forced to endure unreported acts of violence.

In fact, an older black man once laid it out to me in simple terms, explaining why his father had 20 children with more than 12 different women. He said, "When you would go out and get treated like sh*t all day, the only power that a man had was his d*ck." While the man's actions were not based on violence, this form of sexual decision making is likely linked to counterproductive responses to an oppressive environment. It is up to all of us to take the time to educate our sons and daughters about violence against women and sexual responsibility. South Africa is not the only place where people hurt one another.

One interesting case in which the life of a young black woman was disrespected was the trial against R&B singer R. Kelly. Despite the fact that quite a few people believed that Kelly was the man on tape having sex with a young girl, much of the black community continued to buy his albums without regard or concern for the young woman he may have raped. I was incredibly disappointed in many of my female friends, who seemed to feel that the little girl was asking for it, or that the quality of Kelly's voice mattered more than the fact that he might be hurting young girls. In fact, it actually sickened me.

We can all learn something from this study. As far as South Africa goes, I sincerely hope there are significant adjustments to the sexual culture of a nation where the government has denied the impact of HIV for a long time. There are nearly 6 million people in South Africa living with HIV or AIDS (more than any other country in the world), and more than 300,000 South Africans are believed to have died of AIDS-related illnesses in the last year alone. When the promotion of sexual ignorance is combined with unaddressed violence against women, you have a recipe for national disaster. The government had better deal with this issue soon.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.