By Bronwynne Jooste
Women across the country searching for solace after the horrific trauma of rape often find that the church offers them cold comfort.
This is the core theme of a hard-hitting documentary focusing on the roles the church and society play in dealing with rape.
Every 26 seconds is the brain-child of Cape Town film-maker, Joanne Levitan and her production company, Pandamonium productions. The 50-minute documentary will be broadcast on SABC 2 at 9.30am on Sunday.
The title refers to the frequency of rape in the country, and this figure is emphasised by a constantly ticking clock, with an accompanying number in the corner of the screen.
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As the time draws on, the number steadily increases and the narrator explains that by the time the programme finishes 113 women would have been raped.
Using intimate accounts from rape survivors and rapists, the film explores the brutality of rape in chillingly detailed accounts. Like many other similar broadcasts it delves into the lingering psychological scars inflicted by rape.
One of the rape survivors interviewed summed it up: "I think it lasted for about five minutes, but the pain will stay for a lifetime. A little bit of your soul is gone."
The women tell of how their attacks forced them onto a path of self-destruction, veering into drug and alcohol-induced suicide attempts. They were drawn into the depths of depression, they lacked direction and felt utterly alone.
As heartbreaking as these personal stories are, the documentary drives home the point of how archaic social systems in communities and churches are fuelling the rape crisis.
Those interviewed admit that men are seen as leaders, and a rapist even confesses that he was raised to believe that girls were "lower than boys, males are seen as superior".
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