One in 4 South African Men Admit to Rape

One in four men in South Africa admitted to rape in an anonymous study, and many say they’ve attacked multiple times, the Guardian reports. Three-quarters of rapists first did so as teenagers and half are repeat offenders; 5% of the men surveyed said they’d raped a woman or girl in the past year, the study by South Africa’s Medical Research Council found.

“We have a very, very high prevalence of rape in South Africa,” said a researcher. “I think it is down to ideas about masculinity based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men. It's rooted in an African ideal of manhood.” Only 7% of reported rapes in the country result in conviction; the criminal justice system is “woeful,” she noted.
(More South Africa stories.)