HIV Skyrockets in So. African Lesbians From "Corrective Rape"

Ten percent of lesbians in South African are HIV-positive, with the practice of "corrective rape" the likely cause, a recent study suggests. And these women largely keep the incidents to themselves, rather than seek out testing, treatment or other legal actions, as authorities and doctors are unresponsive.

"They said lesbians deserve this... I won't go back," said one woman after being mocked by clinic workers, reported BuzzFeed. The woman said the health care workers told her, "Lesbians are from the devil. God did not make women for this. [You] are not acting like women."

The study, Forced Sexual Experiences as Risk Factor for Self-Reported HIV Infection among Southern African Lesbian and Bisexual Women, was conducted in collaboration with community-based organizations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe and appeared in PloS One, an open-access peer reviewed journal supported by the National Institute of Health.

The study introduction noted that "even though women who have sex with women are usually understood to be at no or very low risk for HIV infection, we explored whether lesbian and bisexual women in a geographical area with high HIV prevalence (Southern Africa) get tested for HIV and whether, among those women who get tested, there are women who live with HIV/AIDS."

The cause was largely attributed to the widespread practice of "corrective rape" in South Africa, a hate crime in which a person is sexually assaulted because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender orientation, with the goal of turning them heterosexual or making them act more in line with gender stereotypes.

The study revealed that a large proportion of women (78.3 percent) have never been tested for HIV, possibly due to rampant homophobia among health workers and authorities, with a survey by the Human Sciences Research Council indicating that 80 percent of South Africans disapprove of homosexuality, despite the countries extensive legal protections for LGBTs.

In South Africa, more women are sexually assaulted than almost anywhere in the world, lesbians being the most targeted for "corrective rape." The country has higher rates of rape than almost anywhere else in the world, with more than 54,000 cases reported (and thousands more not reported) in a country with a population of less than 50 million. Forced sex was reported by 31.1 percent of all women.

"Today we understand the challenges that women in South Africa are faced with, challenges of being raped of young and old women and lesbian women who are victimized because of their sexual orientation and also the patriarchal measures of society where butch lesbians are expected to act more 'feminine' to fit into their women category," wrote Zandile Tose of the South African group Free Gender, in an August 9 statement.

Lesbians In Denial, Blaming Bisexuals

Despite the ongoing silence, the presence of HIV/AIDS in lesbian women and other WSW has been documented since the early 1990s, with prevalence rates that are sometimes higher than among their heterosexual counterparts.

"The reality is lesbians are HIV-positive. The reality is lesbians are so in denial," a black lesbian activist in the township of Khayelitsha told BuzzFeed. A recent study found almost one in 10 women who have sex with women in southern Africa is HIV-positive, but homophobia and the stigma of the disease among lesbians make it difficult to confront.

The recent AIDS death of Nomawabo Mahlungula, a member of the local lesbian grassroots organization Free Gender, is now raising important questions among South African lesbians. It's been an unspoken issue that is seldom discussed within the community, and many feel that a more open approach might be the perfect solution.

"They don't talk about it. They hide it from their friends," Ntsupe Mohapi, head of the LGBT organization EPOC, told BuzzFeed. "It's hard to practice safe sex... if you do something behind close doors."

Even those who want to practice safe sex can have a very hard time getting protection. Dental dams and other safe-sex supplies for lesbians are very hard to come by and can be expensive. Free condoms are widely available and can be cut into barriers for oral sex, but lesbians open themselves up to humiliation by asking for them at public clinics.

"There's a lot of, 'Why, what are you gonna do with it?'" from clinic staff when a lesbian asks for safe-sex supplies, said Nokhwezi Hoboyi of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women. "That's why lesbian women are very reluctant to go to clinics and ask for any protection."

Despite the well-known incidences of "corrective rape," a diagnosis of HIV in a lesbian also raises suspicion among other lesbians that the woman has betrayed the community and chosen to have sex with men. This damages both community support networks and individual women's health options.

The rising discussion is causing some rifts within the community. Some South African lesbians have gone so far as to say that bisexual women are making them a target for rape, since it confirms the perception that even women who date women are secretly attracted to men.

"Especially now in an era in South Africa where there's a lot of hate crimes, some lesbian women feel that women who date men and women, or who are attracted to men and women, are the ones who [cause] men to target lesbian women," said Hoboyi, who has had relationships with both men and women.

"The problem that we're facing even now is that in the gay community [bisexuals] are not accepted very easily," said Mohapi. Lesbians may turn their backs on them saying, "You're going to put us in danger."

The issue continues to divide women lesbian and bisexual women, and keep the attention away from the high rates of HIV infections and of addressing the practice of "corrective rape."

"Each day I hear of a woman who has been victimized by a man due to the patriarchal practices that are practiced in our communities, where men are seen as superior than women," wrote Tose. "I am a lesbian woman who lives in fear for I do not know when my day will come for me to be 'proven' that I am not a man but a woman."