New study: Over one in three men in South Africa admit to rape

This is startling:

A 2010 study led by the government-funded Medical Research Foundation says that in Gauteng province, home to South Africa’s most populous city of Johannesburg, more than 37 percent of men said they had raped a woman. Nearly 7 percent of the 487 men surveyed said they had participated in a gang rape.

More than 51 percent of the 511 women interviewed said they’d experienced violence from men, and 78 percent of men said they’d committed violence against women.

A quarter of the women interviewed said they’d been raped, but the study says only one in 25 rapes are reported to police.

While the numbers behind this study are devastating, hopefully it will be a call for alarm within the South African community and beyond — and proof that rape still continues to be normalized in the world.

Join the Conversation