TSZ Magazine: June 2016 (Issue #1)

Corrective Rape

by Amanda (AmandaTayteTait )

Corrective rape is a hate crime in which one or more people are raped because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity . The common intended consequence of the rape, as seen by the perpetrator, is to turn the person heterosexual or to enforce conformity with gender stereotypes.

Although people have long since dreamed of an egalitarian society, a society in which all gender is equal, such a society has never existed. All human societies from the simplest to the most complex have some form of gender inequality.

For centuries, people have preached about equality at work or equality in education but seldom have we realized the true devastating effects of a man who believes he has power over a woman.

Zakhe, 28, lives in Soweto in Johannesburg. She is a lesbian and a victim of a horrifying growing trend in South Africa: corrective rape. "They tell me that they will kill me, they will rape me and after raping me, I will become a girl," she tells ActionAid. "I will become a straight girl." (The Telegraph)

In countries were the constitution does little to nothing to protect people under the LGBTQ community. Protection of lesbian woman who are raped in an effort to correct has become nothing more than a theory.

What is corrective rape really? This is a term created with the unfounded idea that something needs to be fixed. That same love isn't love at all.

This in a society taught that 'gay is a choice.' That being silent is better than to be condemned but then is this what true freedom looks like? Is this the true portrayal of a free world or is freedom simply an illusion?

Over 60% of lesbian rapes occur under the watchful eye of a society which simply turn a blind eye. If it doesn't affect me then why fight right? Wrong! When did 'the right thing' become a subjective term?

When did it become okay to destroy the virtue of a woman in order to correct the way in which biology created them to be. Well 'God hates gay people!' In what religion? Because almost all religions are founded under the belief system of a loving God. After all isn't love the greatest commandment of all?

When I asked a group of 20-24 year olds their opinion on correctional rape. I was warned against attracting the wrong attention because "When you stand with homosexual's you are asking for it!"

When I asked why a man would rape in order to correct one answered that "Its the idea of 'not being man enough' to the point of a chick going for another chick, that rattles more than a persons sexuality. So the person sorts to simply destroy what made them uneasy. Why they may mutilate private areas is because those are the parts that caused the undermining of their sex."

But is this what we sort to teach the next generation of leaders that a mans worth is defined by the power they have over the opposite sex. That sexuality is a decision that can be changed through rape? Why choose force as our only voice? Why do we communicate strength instead of love? Why do we continue to build on hate?

Zimbabwe is one such country in which under the constitution to be gay will lend you 40 years in jail whilst rapists only get 6-8 years. Is this the message we are sending that it is a less of a crime to defile another hu!an being than it is to be free?

Many people in this community believe it is okay to protect the country against gay people because it is 'unnatural', 'wrong' 'we are teaching children that its okay to love another man.' One Woman even went further to state that 'by allowing gayism we would be allowing man to sleep with beasts.'

An influx of such stories has also been sited in India where families are insisting on raping their children in an effort to turn them straight.

Deepthi Tadanki, who is in the process of making a film on this taboo topic reveals some horror stories she came across while researching for her film. Tadanki is quoted by The Times of India as saying, "When I was researching on this subject for my film, I came across two gut-wrenching stories of corrective rape - one, where a gay girl was raped by her cousin so that she could be "cured" of homosexuality; and another, where family members forced a gay boy to have sex with his mother, in a bid to turn him 'straight'. I tried reaching out to these victims, but they refused to talk."(Firstpost)

And is this the free world we live in? Democracy is still a theory for many countries but it is our hope as a community to stand in remembrance of these people that stand and fight for their right to be free.