CSVR

A draft bill that will allow any survivor of a reported rape to apply to have the rape suspect(s) tested for HIV/Aids is under discussion. Not only might this enable women to obtain some peace of mind about their attackers' HIV status, but it should also assist them to make important choices around the use of anti-retroviral drugs, and safer…

South Africa does not yet understand much about the relationship between poverty and crime. About the closest we ever come is the 'poverty-and-violence-causes-crime' thesis. However, this explanation not only libels the poor and unemployed generally, it is also inadequate. Single mothers and their children, along with elderly women and men, are among the poorest groups in the country. But when…

Recent news reports have highlighted research around rape by sociobiologists Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer. Their claim about the cause of rape is controversial indeed. Essentially, they state that rape is a behaviour evolved by unsuccessful men to gain sexual access to desirable mates. In other words, unattractive losers who can't find a girl-friend or wife rape women to make…

Nineteen ninety-nine was the year we discovered that a rape in South Africa doesn't occur every 17 seconds, every 23 seconds, every 25 seconds or even every 83 seconds, casting doubt on the claim that more than a million women and children are raped annually. But in debunking these figures, no acceptable alternative has been put forward in their place,…