South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of sexual assault. According to a 2009 government survey, one in four men admit to having sex with a woman who did not consent to intercourse, and nearly half of these men admitted to raping more than once. An earlier government study found that a majority of rapes were committed by friends and acquaintances of the victim. Just as disturbing is a practice called “corrective rape” — the rape of gay men and lesbians to “cure” them of their sexual orientation.
We bring you here a drop in the ocean, six stories of lesbian women who have been sexually attacked by men, some of these stories are heartbreaking in the best case, some had the worst ending of all. Please read and share to raise awareness of this horrific act in South Africa, hoping some kind of help will arrive one day soon.
Eudy Simelane – 2008
In one of the few cases to attract press attention, in 2008, Eudy Simelane, a lesbian, was gang-raped and stabbed to death. Her naked body was dumped in a stream in the Kwa Thema township outside Johannesburg. A soccer player training to be a referee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, she was targeted because of her sexual orientation. A mural was painted after the body of her was found in the same place…
