Rachel Jewkes 1, Yandisa Sikweyiya 1, Robert Morrell 2, Kristin Dunkle 3 1 Director, Gender & Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Pretoria, 2 Research office, University of Cape Town 3 Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University, Rape perpetration and South African masculinity: findings of a community based study

The rape capital of the world? rapes of women and girls were reported to the police between April 2005 and March 2006 ~4x higher than the United States Yet barriers to reporting are immense and include: rape stigma, fear of not being taken seriously, confusion around sexual entitlement / coercion (was it rape?), fear of retaliation and a sense of futility Research with victims is a singularly unproductive way of understanding rape – is you want to do that we need to study perpetrators

Methods: Setting: three districts in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal Provinces Study design: representative sample drawn of men living in 222 enumeration areas, aged years APDAs (Audio-enhanced Personal Digital Assistants) were used for the survey We completed interviews in 1,738 of 2,298 (75.6% ) of the enumerated and eligible households

Characteristics of the men Age: – % – % – % – % Race: –African 84.9% –Coloured 4.1% –Indian9.3% –White1.6% 54.6% employed or earned in past year 40% completed matric or attended tertiary

Prevalence by age and race (racial diffs. not explained by age & income)

Prevalence by education and income (income diffs. not explained by age & race)

Multivariable model of factors associated with raping (age adjusted)

Conclusions This research has highlighted the fact that rape perpetration is not a fringe experience for South African men, prevalence findings confirmed by the Gauteng province study results which found 37.4% of adult men had ever raped Most men who rape do so for the first time as teenagers, so prevention must address itself to children and youth

Conclusions South African patriarchy and ideas flowing from it of sexual entitlement and legitimacy of use of violence against women seem the most important factors driving rape in this country These are rooted in our dominant ideas of masculinity and we need to engage in changing these if we are to address rape

Conclusions Other factors are clearly important: –Exposure of children to trauma – which has important neurophysiological impact –Widespread involvement of male youth in gangs –Perceived sense of alienation of youth from the benefits possible/ reaped by others in South African society

Acknowledgements Funded by: the UK Department For International Development (DFID), and grant was managed by their local partner Human Life Sciences Partnership (HLSP)