http://www.sudafrica.it/

http://www.rainews24.it/Notizia.asp?NewsId=110506

Questa la pagina web http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/eudy-simelane-corrective-rape-south-africa da cui è tratto l'articolo seguente.

The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found in a creek in a park in Kwa Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. As well as being one of South Africa's best-known female footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in Kwa Thema. Her brutal murder took place last April, and since then a tide of violence against lesbian women in South Africa has continued to rise. Human rights campaigners say it is characterised by what they call "corrective rape" committed by men behind the guise of trying to "cure" lesbian women of their sexual orientation. Now, a report by the international NGO ActionAid, backed by the South African Human Rights Commission, condemns the culture of impunity around these crimes, which it says are going unrecognised by the state and unpunished by the legal system. The report calls for South Africa's criminal justice system to recognise hate crimes, including corrective rape, as a separate crime category. It argues this will force police to take action over the rising violence and ensure the resources and support is provided to those trying to bring perpetrators to justice. The ferocity and brutality of Simelane's murder sent shockwaves through Kwa Thema, where she was much known and loved for bringing sports fame to the sprawling township. Her mother, Mally Simelane, said she always feared for her daughter's safety but never imagined her life would be taken in such a way. "I'm scared of these people that they are going to come and kill me too because I don't know what happened," she said. "Why did they do this horrible thing? Because of who she was? She was a sweet lady, she never fought with anyone, but why would they kill her like this? She was stabbed, 25 holes in her. The whole body, even under the feet." The Guardian talked to lesbian women in townships in Johannesburg and Cape Town who said they were being deliberately targeted for rape and that the threat of violence had become an everyday ordeal. "Every day I am told that they are going to kill me, that they are going to rape me and after they rape me I'll become a girl," said Zakhe Sowello from Soweto, Johannesburg. "When you are raped you have a lot of evidence on your body. But when we try and report these crimes nothing happens, and then you see the boys who raped you walking free on the street." Research released last year by Triangle, a leading South African gay rights organisation, revealed that a staggering 86% of black lesbians from the Western Cape said they lived in fear of sexual assault. The group says it is dealing with up to 10 new cases of "corrective rape" every week. "What we're seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them," said Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive at Triangle. Support groups claim an increasingly aggressive and macho political environment is contributing to the inaction of the police over attacks on lesbian women and is part of a growing cultural lethargy towards the high levels of gender-based violence in South Africa. "When asking why lesbian women are being targeted you have to look at why all women are being raped and murdered in such high numbers in South Africa," said Carrie Shelver, of women's rights group Powa, a South African NGO. "So you have to look at the increasingly macho culture, which seeks to oppress women and sees them as merely sexual beings. So when there is a lesbian woman she is an absolute affront to this kind of masculinity." A statement released by South Africa's national prosecuting authority said: "While hate crimes – especially of a sexual nature – are rife, it is not something that the South African government has prioritised as a specific project." The failure of police to follow up eyewitness statements and continue their investigation into another brutal double rape and murder of lesbian couple Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Massooa in July 2007 has led to the formation of the 07-07-07 campaign, a coalition of human rights and equality groups calling for justice for women targeted in these attacks. Sigasa and Massooa were tortured, gang raped and shot near their homes in Meadowland, Soweto in July 2007, shortly after being verbally abused outside a bar. Human rights and equality campaigners are hoping that the public outrage and disgust at Simelane's death and the July trial of the three men accused of her rape and murder will help put an end to the spiralling violence increasingly faced by lesbian women across South Africa.

http://www.stefaniaragusa.com/2008/05/stupri-correttivi-in-sudafrica-le.html

Alias (l'allegato culturale del Manifesto) pubblica oggi [31 maggio 2008] un articolo mio [cioè di Stefania Ragusa] sui correptive rapes, gli stupri educativi (l'ossimoro è inevitabile) inferti alle lesbiche, in SudAfrica, per riportarle sulla buona strada. Parlo di questa cosa con Zanele Muholi, una fotografa lesbica originaria del Kwa-Zulu. Sue sono le foto che illustrano il pezzo (alcune le ho postate). Qui riporto un passaggio dell'articolo:

«...recentemente alcune immagini di Zanele Muholi (selezionate, va detto, tra le più soft) sono state esposte al Palazzo delle Papesse di Siena, in occasione della collettiva .Za, giovane arte del Sudafrica. A “raccomandarla” (la selezione dei giovani artisti era stata affidata a cinque curatori-artisti sudafricani di fama) è stata Sue Williamson. Williamson ha apprezzato il contributo di Zanele «alla stesura di una storia del’omosessualità in Africa più democratica e rappresentativa», la sua volontà di «rendere pubblica l’immagine della comunità lesbica di colore, che è non solo avversata dal pregiudizio ma anche minacciata fisicamente da uomini che nelle lesbiche vedono un ostacolo alla loro mascolinità». Minacciata fisicamente, nel caso specifico, vuol dire esposta alla pratica dei cosiddetti correptive rape, gli stupri rieducativi, che a volte culminano con l’uccisione della vittima (per la serie colpirne una per educarne cento). Non esiste un conteggio ufficiale per sapere quanti siano. In Sudafrica, però, secondo le statistiche, ci sono in media tre stupri al minuto. Vuol dire più di 180 all’ora. Almeno uno su dieci dovrebbe rientrare nella categoria correptive rape. Un recente rapporto della Commissione Sudafricana per i Diritti Umani ha evidenziato che la violenza contro le lesbiche è estremamente diffusa anche nelle scuole, tra adolescenti. «La stigmatizzazione delle lesbiche di colore, nella maggior parte dei casi, nasce dal fatto che l’omosessualità viene percepita come un fenomeno non africano», spiega Zanele. «Che una donna abbia tanti bambini e procrei accanto a un uomo cui spetta il ruolo di capofamiglia è considerato parte della nostra tradizione. Dal momento che non ci conformiamo a questo modello, veniamo percepite come identità deviate, che necessitano di un abuso sessuale di tipo curativo per tornare sulla buona strada e convertirci in donne vere: femmine, madri e mogli...».