Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 55, Issue 7, October 2002, Pages 1231-1244
Social Science & Medicine

The epidemiology of rape and sexual coercion in South Africa: an overview

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00242-8Get rights and content

Abstract

During 1999 the issue of rape in South Africa was debated at the highest levels. The epidemiology of rape has become an issue of considerable political importance and sensitivity, with President Mbeki demanding an answer to the question: how much rape is there in South Africa? The purpose of this paper is both to summarise and synthesise the findings of research to provide an overview of the epidemiology of rape of women in South Africa and to show how difficult it is to answer the President's question. The review begins by considering why rape is so difficult to research. Data available shows that rape reported to the police (240 incidents of rape and attempted rape per 100,000 women each year) represents the tip of an ice berg of sexual coercion. Representative community-based surveys have found, for example, that in the 17–48 age group there are 2070 such incidents per 100,000 women per year. Non-consensual sex in marriage and dating relationships is believed to be very common but is usually not well reported in surveys. Forced sexual initiation is reported by almost a third of adolescent girls. In addition coerced consensual sex is a common problem in schools, workplaces and amongst peers. Knowledge of causal and contributory factors influencing the high levels of rape are also discussed. We conclude that the rape statistic for the country is currently elusive but levels of non-consensual and coerced sex are clearly very high. International comparison needs to be approached with caution because most developing countries lack the infrastructure for accurate crime reporting and do not have such a substantial body of survey data.

Introduction

In 1995, the Human Rights Watch report on domestic violence and rape, dubbed South Africa the ‘rape capital of the world’ and, citing a figure which had been quoted for some years by NGOs, asserted that there were 35 rapes for every one reported to the police (Human Rights Watch, 1995). When this figure was made centre piece in a prime time TV advertisement, the President responded defensively by questioning its basis. Investigation suggested that the figure had possibly just been made up. There was an ensuing high profile debate about the use of statistics on rape and although consensus that there was too much rape in South Africa was readily reached, disagreement about the magnitude of the problem has continued. The aim of this paper is to review the available data on the epidemiology of rape in South Africa. The data is prefaced by a discussion of the difficulties in arriving at the rape statistic for the country, both conceptual difficulties and barriers to reporting. In the final section we discuss the findings of the review and the implications of our experiences of rape research in South Africa for understanding of rape and sexual coercion internationally.

Section snippets

What is rape?

In terms of common law, rape is committed by a man having intentional and unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent (South African Law Commission, 1999). New sexual offences legislation is currently being drafted and discussion documents (South African Law Commission, 1999) have indicated that it will include a declaration that sexual penetration is unlawful if it occurs in coercive circumstances, which include the application of force, threats, abuse of power or authority,

Causal and contributory factors in sexual coercion

The question: why do we have so much rape? Is much more difficult to answer. Research on causal and contributory factors in rape internationally is some what limited and fragmented. In South Africa, most of the work has been based on rape in the relationships of youth, rather than on stranger rape, rape of children or of older women and important work based on very long term fieldwork amongst young men and women is still in progress (Wood K., pers. comm.). Rape is a difficult area to study.

Discussion

This paper set out to provide an overview of available statistics on rape from crime information systems and results of representative studies of rape and sexual coercion and to piece together the fragments of data which are available from other research which provide additional insights into the problem of sexual coercion in South Africa. It has shown that national data on rape is highly sensitive to the source of information, the way in which questions are framed and the definition of rape.

Uncited References

Statistics South Afirca (2000).

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Jonathan Levin who analysed the data for the Three Province Study and Desiree Pieterse who made the table for the SA Demographic and Health Survey. Also to Katharine Wood who has helped to shape many of the ideas about rape causal and contributory factors.

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