Trying to Rape a Lesbian Straight: Sounds Like a Hate Crime to Me

In South Africa, lesbian women are raped or gang-raped by men who believe that unwanted penetration by a penis can screw them straight (or sometimes the assailants throw that goal out to go ahead and kill the woman). It sure sounds like a hate crime to me. But the South African government doesn't seem to agree, and it doesn't take the average 10 reported "corrective rapes" every week in Cape Town alone very seriously.

As Benjamin Joffe-Walt reports on Human Rights, if you kidnap a woman, imprison, threaten, strangle, and repeatedly rape her for five hours, you can get out on bail for the equivalent of 10 bucks. Does that say, "we take violence against women seriously" to you?

I didn't think so. And neither does Luleki Sizwe, a South African charity, named for two victims who died from diseases contracted during the assault, that provides support and counseling to survivors of corrective rape. Because people like Andile Ngcoza can get out of jail for a few dollars, Luleki Sizwe had to raise money for a safe house to protect survivors and their founder, Ndumie Funda. Oh, I almost forget: when released, he threatened Funda, his victim, and her family, violating the terms of bail. Yet was nonetheless still left to wander free.

As a victims' care organization, Luleki Sizwe can only try to heal some of the physical and mental wounds of the traumatic attacks, which impact hundreds every year. And not all victims end up surviving their attacks. So they're branching out and calling upon their government to do something to check the corrective rape epidemic. They want corrective rape to be recognized as a hate crime.

You can sign this petition created by Luleki Sizwe to tell the South African government to declare corrective a hate crime subject to harsher sentencing. The organization is also calling for an investigation into Andile Ncoza's case and the reason behind his release on such absurdly low bail. Time for South Africa's government to take its fingers out of its ears and start listening to advocates demands to protect women.

Photo credit: Luleki Sizwe Facebook page

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