CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A leading South African research group said one in four male South Africans it surveyed admitted to committing rape — a finding that cast a light on a culture of sexual violence that victims groups say is deeply embedded in society.
According to police statistics, about 36,000 women were raped in 2007 — nearly 100 per day. But victim-support groups and government-backed research say the vast majority of rapes go unreported because of the stigma and trauma involved.
South Africa is home to about 50 million people.
The government-funded Medical Research Council, whose findings often influence official policy, said it conducted the survey to deepen understanding of men’s attitudes and behavior.
Chief researcher Rachel Jewkes said Friday that the findings were “shocking,” but “not unexpected.”
Opposition political parties said they were horrified, but victim-support groups said they were not surprised.
“The report indicates that rape has become ‘normalized’ as a feature of masculine identity in a society that has emerged from years of oppression — a tragic development for both women and for men,” said Anne Marie Goetz, chief of the Governance, Peace and Security section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
The government had no immediate comment, but the study is expected to be a focal point of a conference on sexual violence next month. Researchers interviewed men from just over 1,700 households in the rural provinces of the eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
tudy results
28 percent South African males who said they had forced a woman or girl to have sexual intercourse against her will
20 percent Those who admitted to sexual abuse who have AIDS
42 percent Men who said they had been physically violent to a current intimate partner, wife or ex-girlfriend
