Outcry over textbook rape scenario

The thing the vast majority of women victims of violence have in common are that their attackers were not strangers but people they know such as intimate partners, family members, friends and acquaintances, says the writer. File photo

The thing the vast majority of women victims of violence have in common are that their attackers were not strangers but people they know such as intimate partners, family members, friends and acquaintances, says the writer. File photo

Published Jul 29, 2016

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Durban - Life orientation teachers are being asked not to teach a page from a Grade 10 textbook that asks pupils how a rape victim’s behaviour led to “sexual intercourse”.

The question has been widely criticised for “reducing rape to sexual intercourse” and encouraging victim-blaming.

Education spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said on Thursday that the department would advise its teachers to exclude the material when teaching and that future editions would not have that material.

On Monday, Yonela Pales Moopelwa posted a photograph of the page, which was from a Grade 10 Focus Life Orientation textbook, on Facebook and it was shared several hundred times.

It included a letter that read: “Help! I was at a party with my friends. I lied to my parents; I told them I was going to a friend’s house to study. I lied because I knew they would not give me permission to go.

“While I was at the party, we drank a lot of beer and spirits. Then my friends started acting badly. They pushed me in a room with a guy I did not know and locked the door. They just laughed when I banged on the door to be let out. This guy was so horrible ... he raped me.

“I feel I can’t even report this because then my parents will know I lied to them. What can I do? I am so hurt and now I am scared of getting pregnant or getting HIV or another STI. I wish I never went to that party ... Angie”

It went on to ask pupils to “list two ways in which Angie’s behaviour led to sexual intercourse” and to give Angie advice on what she should do now.

Moopelwa wrote a note above the picture. In it she said: “This activity is teaching our kids to justify rape! How can this be allowed, in a country that already has horrifying rape statistics?”

Anti-rape activist Sian Ferguson took a similar view. She explained exactly why the page’s content was problematic: “By asking how Angie’s actions led to sexual intercourse’, the textbook was doing two things. First, it was reducing rape to sexual intercourse’, thus implying that Angie’s interpretation of the event as rape is incorrect.”

Ferguson said this was “unacceptable”. The scenario depicted was clearly rape and should have been recognised as such.

“Secondly, by saying that Angie’s actions led to her rape, it was blaming her for her rape,” she said. “Victim blaming, which is the act of blaming rape victims for causing their rape, discourages people from seeking psychological, legal and medical help after sexual assault.”

Ferguson said victim blaming was common and contributed greatly to rape culture.

“It also means we shift the blame away from the rapist or rapists.” She said the question encouraged pupils to participate in victim-blaming “Angie” and that for students who had experienced sexual assault, such a question could be deeply damaging and hurtful.

“It could discourage them from speaking out against sexual violence,” she said.

Ferguson also took issue with the second question. “By asking what Angie should do and assigning marks to the question, the text was implying there is a right’ way to respond to sexual assault. We shouldn’t be prescriptive about what rape victims should do after assault, that’s their choice entirely.”

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The Mercury

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