'Men raped more than women'

2005-08-11 10:21

Adriaan Basson

Johannesburg - There are many male rape victims, but stereotyping often prevents them from reporting these offences to the police.

Luke Lamprecht of the Teddy Bear Clinic made this statement on Wednesday on the first day of a mini-conference about the amendment bill on sexual offences, which has been dragging on for the past seven years.

In terms of the present Sexual Offences Act, men cannot be raped. Offenders who sodomise men against their will are at present charged with indecent assault.

Lamprecht said their research showed that more men than women were penetrated against their will.

They obtained these statistics mainly from clinics where men went to get antiretroviral medication (ARM) - Lamprecht said this was the only way to find out how many men were "raped".

When sodomy was removed as a crime from the lawbooks, nothing replaced it, he said.

Homophobia

"What do men think if they are raped? They are going to be called sissies or become victims of the terrible homophobia out there."

Lamprecht said men also see themselves as protectors of women. After being "raped", many men think they cannot look after a wife or children if they cannot even look after themselves.

These men need therapy and the offenders ought to be charged with rape.

Lamprecht also criticised the stereotype that adult men who abuse boys, are gay.

"They are not gay. Gay men do not abuse children. Gay men have sex with gay men," he said.

Lamprecht also said disabled children were still far more vulnerable to sexual offences than other children.

Yet he had not seen a single court case where a suspect who had molested or raped a disabled child had been successfully prosecuted. He claimed the reason was that the victims were usually seen as unreliable witnesses.

Lamprecht warned against "occupational offenders" who became "preachers, teachers or gymnastic coaches" with the specific purpose of abusing children sexually.

- Beeld