Sexual Abuse “Endemic” Among Male Children in SA—Researchers
Reuters, July 30, 2008
By 18 years old two in five schoolboys report being forced to have sex
Two out of five male South African students say they have been raped, according to a study published on Tuesday suggesting sexual abuse of boys is endemic in the country’s schools.
The survey published in BioMed Central’s International Journal for Equity in Health showed that boys were most frequently assaulted by adult women, followed closely by other schoolchildren.
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The survey carried out in 1,200 schools across the country asked 127,000 boys aged between 10 and 19 if they had ever been sexually abused and, if so, by whom.
Forty-four percent of the 18-year-olds said they had been forced to have sex in their lives and half reported consensual sex.
About a third said they had been abused by males, 41 percent by females and 27 percent said they had been raped by both males and females. The study did not look at the number of girls who were raped.
Abuse by fellow males was more common in rural areas while attacks by women happened mainly in cities, the study found. There was also a big disparity between provinces with Limpopo—among the poorest—showing the highest abuse rates and Western Cape the lowest.
This type of study, based entirely on the response of participants, has limitations because there are no ways to verify whether people exaggerate or withhold information, the researchers acknowledged.
