Gender-Based Violence and HIV/AIDS

Gender-based violence is also rooted in socio-economic inequality. It can take many forms and can include physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse. While both men and women can suffer from gender-based violence, it is predominantly women and children of both sexes that fall victim to it. Gender-based violence can include rape and sexual assault, violence between “intimate” partners (including marital rape) and violence associated with war. The most pervasive form of gender-based violence is violence committed against a woman by her partner.

How can gender-based violence increase a woman’s vulnerability to HIV infection?

 

Violence between Intimate Partners

• Violence can cause women to suffer from a host of reproductive health disorders, increasing her biological vulnerability to HIV
• Sex can be violent, coerced or take the form of marital rape, which can allow easy access for the virus (see "biological vulnerability" above )
• In such cases women are unlikely to be able to discuss sex or negotiate safer sex and/or condom use with her partner
• Gender-based violence can lead to excessive alcohol and/or drug abuse, depression, low self-esteem and post-traumatic stress which can, in turn, lead to multiple partners, unprotected sex or increased risk taking

 

Rape

Rape is a crime of violence and power, not of sex, as is commonly believed.

Previously, South Africa’s law limited the definition of rape to penetration of the vagina by the penis. In 2007, then-President Thabo Mbeki signed the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act into effect. In terms of the Act, the definition of rape was expanded to read as follows: “Any person (‘A’) who unlawfully and intentionally commits an act of sexual penetration with a complainant (‘B’), without the consent of B, is guilty of the offence of rape.”

In short, the new, expanded statutory offence of rape is applicable to all forms of sexual penetration without consent, irrespective of gender. According to the department of justice and constitutional development, this means “that a woman, a man (or a child) can now be raped by another woman or man.”

The definition includes rape within marriage (“marital rape”) and by a partner or friend (“date” or “acquaintance” rape). Rape therefore means sex without consent.

The Act also makes provision for “compelled rape”: Any person (‘A’) who unlawfully and intentionally compels a third person (‘C’), without the consent of C, to commit an act of sexual penetration with a complainant (‘B’), without the consent of B, is guilty of the offence of compelled rape.

The Act also repealed the common law of “indecent assault”, replacing it with the offence of “sexual assault”. Previously, the law described the situation where a woman or girl was forced into sex that did not include sexual intercourse as “indecent assault”; the Act has expanded definition to include a wider range of acts of sexual violation without consent.

Other terms used around sexual violence are:

• Gang rape: Where a woman is raped by more than one man at the same time.
• Statutory rape: When any person has, or attempts to have, unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under the age of consent (16 years of age). Sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 12, whether or not she consents, is regarded as rape by our common law and is a punishable offence.

The number of rapes that go unreported in South Africa make statistics difficult to come by. In 1997, 52 160 rape cases were reported to the South African Police Service. That same year, a paper from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation put the SAPS estimate for the number of rape cases reported at 1 in 36, meaning the number of actual rapes actually exceeded 1.8-million that year. This figure was, however, disputed at the time. However, a department of justice and constitutional development information brochure reports that the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders estimated that one in 20 victims of rape reported the case to the police in 1999, while a 2005 Medical Research Council report put the number at about one in nine.

How can rape increase a woman's vulnerability to HIV infection?

• The violent nature of rape leads to cuts, scrapes and bruises which allows easy access for the HI virus
• It is highly unlikely that a woman would be able to negotiate safer sex in situations of rape or coerced (forced) sex
• In a rape situation, is quite possible that there would be a presence of a sexually transmitted infection (STI). STIs increase the possibility of HIV infection by 90%, because lesions and sores also allow easy access for the virus into the bloodstream
• Rape is under- and inappropriately reported in South Africa: often incidences of ongoing marital rape, "date" rape and other forms of rape can inhibit a women from seeking health care and treatment

Post-exposure prophylaxis is available in the public health sector for rape survivors. (see Prevention Factsheet: Post-Exposure Prophylaxis)