The virgin myth theory — the belief that sex with a virgin can cure HIV/Aids — has become the accepted explanation for child sexual abuse in South Africa, despite little hard evidence linking it to rapes.
Aids activists and children’s rights campaigners have blamed the virgin myth for highly publicised rape cases such as that of Baby Tshepang.
It was believed that Baby Tshepang was gang-raped and this sparked immense public outrage. She became the subject of intense media focus, both nationally and internationally.
After her case the rape of other babies and toddlers, which would otherwise have gone more or less unnoticed as occurred previously, were reported amid a blaze of publicity.
The Northern Cape MEC for health was one of the first to put forward the virgin myth as a motive for Baby Tshepang’s rape. A scandalised public that was otherwise unable to conceive of a motive for this horrific crime took up the explanation. Soon it was the accepted popular explanation given by news reporters for the perceived rise in child rape.
The myth’s popularity is far from accidental. The most powerful and compelling aspect of it is that it offers an explanation for something that is otherwise incomprehensible. The rape of a baby is probably the most horrific act that most people can imagine — and the virgin myth seems to be the only theory that can begin to explain this phenomenon. Something so terrible, so fundamentally wrong as baby rape seems to deserve an equally outrageous motive.
The myth also provides Aids activists with an opportunity to criticise the inadequacy of the government’s response to the HIV/Aids epidemic. Paediatric surgeons Graeme Pitcher and Douglas Bowley stated in the Lancet journal that ”the naive and dishonest view that there is no proven, causal link between HIV and Aids will perpetuate crimes of this nature. The failure of the political leadership to frankly acknowledge the causes, effects and treatment of HIV/Aids has been the fertile ground for bizarre and dangerous myths to take root and flourish.”
Nicole Barlow, of the Coalition for Children’s Rights, has also used the myth to criticise the government’s approach to HIV/Aids. ”When our president says that HIV doesn’t cause Aids, knowing the myth that HIV-positive men believe they will be cured if they have sex with a baby or virgin, what message are they sending to the country?”
The myth is thus taken to be an implicit criticism of the African National Congress’s Aids policy. Ironically, the virgin myth supports the causal link between HIV and Aids because it presupposes the harmfulness of HIV infection. The theory is attractive because it is immediate and urgent, demanding that action be taken now.
An important consequence of the virgin myth theory is that it has ignited public interest in child rape. It has lent impetus and urgency to the movement against sexual abuse. However, it has done this at the cost of obscuring the root causes of child rape.
Rachel Jewkes, from the Medical Research Council, says the myth allows public outrage without challenging the social values at the root of child rape.
Though the virgin myth has drawn attention to a specific, severe form of child abuse, it has also drawn attention away from other forms of abuse. Thousands of cases of child neglect and severe physical abuse of infants are reported, but there is no similar myth put forward to explain these incidents and most cases are ignored by the public.
The virgin myth has been used to explain all cases of child rape and thus distracts attention from other contributing factors. This allows society to devote resources to Aids education, which campaigners are lobbying for with the help of this myth, without having to change other social factors that are perceived as less important, unnecessary or too difficult. Pornography, violence, poverty, a culture of instant gratification and opportunism and gender inequality contribute to the high level of rape.
The use of the virgin myth theory tends to obscure these factors. It presents a high rate of HIV infection, coupled with ineffective governmental response, as an important cause of child abuse. And it is explicitly used to demand action on Aids awareness.
Child rape predates the Aids epidemic. It is humanity’s most shameful and worst-kept secret. Ending it requires a commitment to human rights, family and community far beyond our current levels.
Recourse to an outlandish theory will not keep our children from harm; rebuilding communities will.
Jocelyn Newmarch is completing an honours degree in African Studies at the University of Cape Town. The article arises out of a research paper presented at the Rape: Rethinking Male Responsibility conference at the University of the Western Cape in June