Partners: GoodsFromJapan | JapanVisitor | PortugalVisitor

South African Culture: Sex & Prostitution in South Africa

Sex in South Africa

According to the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Survey of 2007-2008, 71% of respondents from South Africa reported having weekly sex with a 50% satisfaction rate. This compares with 82% in Brazil, 53% in the USA, 55% in the UK, 68% in Germany, 72% in Switzerland, 70% in Austria and a lowly 34% in Japan.

Sex in the Rainbow Nation is certainly different than it was under apartheid when mixed-race marriage and interracial sex were declared illegal. The Sexual Offences Act/Immorality Act and the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 strictly controlled sex between races, same-sex relations, and sexuality in general. During apartheid many black workers in the mining industries were kept apart from their families in single-sex hostels and dormitories with only a few days leave a month, which encouraged sexual frustration, the frequent use of prostitutes and numerous same-sex liaisons. These conditions were to have massive consequences for the explosive spread of AIDS from the 1980s.

Sex Crimes

South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world. A 2009 survey by the country's Medical Research Council found that one in four South African men had raped someone, and nearly 50% of the men admitted more than one offence. Most of the first cases of rape occurred when the men were still teenagers and were often part of gang rapes.

One in 20 of the men surveyed admitted they had raped a woman or girl in the last year and one in ten said they had been raped by other men.

Gender inequality and the generally low level of male esteem for woman are some of the reasons behind the disturbing figures. A recent trade union report in South Africa revealed that a child was raped every three minutes with most cases unreported.

AIDS

HIV AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases are also huge problems in South Africa. The first AIDS-related death in South Africa was in 1982 with the official number of cases reaching 10,000 by the mid-1990s. Other unofficial estimates for AIDS had the number nearer a million by 1995 with new cases occurring at the staggering rate of 500 per day!

AIDS remains South Africa's biggest killer and a huge threat to public health and economic development. An estimated 5.2 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa in 2008, more than in any other country in the world.

An estimated 250,000 South Africans died of AIDS in 2008 and around 70,000 babies are born HIV positive every year, adding to figures that suggest 11% of the population is HIV positive. Mpumulanga (15.4%) and KwaZulu-Natal (15.8%) have the highest rates by province with the Western Cape the lowest.

South Africa's struggle against AIDS is not helped by the disempowerment of South African women and the attitudes of its male leaders. President Thabo Mbeki's initial stance on AIDS was to reject the provision of anti-retroviral drugs in the nation's hospitals. His successor, the polygamist Jacob Zuma and father of 18 children, shook off a charge of rape but admitted in court that he had had unprotected sex with his accuser, whom he knew to be HIV-positive. As a precaution against infection, Zuma told the court he took a shower, a move that lead Zapiro, South Africa's most famous political cartoonist to depict Zuma with a shower grafted on to his head.

Prostitution

As South Africa heads to host the World Cup in 2010 there have been calls to legalize and register the country's prostitutes of whom 50% are thought to be HIV-positive.

Attitudes towards commercial sex workers could not be as far removed as they are in the previous World Cup host - Germany, where commercial sex work is both legal and regulated to protect both CSWs and their clients. Prostitution is considered immoral and has been illegal in South Africa since the 1950s.

There are no overt brothels in South Africa but prostitution has mushroomed in recent years. Newspapers openly advertise "escort services" which are fairly explicit as to the nature of services on offer.

Many low-income black women are forced into the trade through poverty and have contributed to the spread of AIDS due to lack of awareness of STD prevention techniques.

More upmarket commercial sex workers ply their trade in the hotels and bars in the plush suburbs of northern Johannesburg such as Sandton and Randburg.

Despite campaigns by health workers and commercial sex workers' groups to push for change in South Africa, the country seems a long way from allowing the legalization or decriminalization of commercial sex, which would aid the Rainbow Nation in its fight against sexually transmitted diseases and maybe lessen the incredibly high incidence of rape.

Sex in Germany
Sex in Austria
Sex in Switzerland

Flight Tickets

Expedia has good flight deals and flight, hotels and car hire packages for South Africa.

"The Onside In-Site" Copyright © From 2000. All rights reserved. Soccerphile Ltd.