OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 10.15am.
ONE in three South African schoolgirls are victims of sexual abuse, according to a study published on Thursday by a non-government organisation, Community Information Empowerment and Transparency.
Of the victims, two out of three had never previously spoken of the abuse, the study of 1500 black and white youths aged between 14 and 18 and from a cross-section of Johannesburg suburbs, the CIET study found.
Among the boys, 12% admitted to having had sex with a girl without her consent. Half of the boys interviewed said they thought that when a girl said “no” she usually meant “yes”. A third of the boys thought that girls who were abused “were looking for it” and one out of 10 believed the victims enjoyed the experience, according to the study, which was conducted with Canadian funding.
“South Africa is a very sexually violent society with very high levels of child abuse and sexual violence at home,” said Professor Neil Andersson, executive director of CIET Africa and head of the project. “Part of the story is that we had a very violent and oppressive regime,” he said. “Young people see their heroes glorifying sexual violence and not being punished, and develop the model themselves.”
The study showed that these attitudes are as entrenched among white South Africans as among blacks, who bore the brunt of the violence of the apartheid regime.
A CIET Africa study last year showed that more than half of South African women said they had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of somebody close to them.
Since last year the organisation has been conducting awareness programmes in schools around Johannesburg to sensitise youths to the problem of sexual violence.
Meanwhile, visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday announced his country’s financial support for programmes aimed at preventing violence against women in South Africa. Blair made the announcement during a visit to the dirt-poor Johannesburg township of Alexandra, saying Britain’s Department for International Development will donate up to R19-million (more than $3-million) to fund a mass media initiative on violence against women. — AFP