South Africa, A Heteropatriarchal Playground.
South Africa launched its first 16 Days of Activism campaign in 1998, joining the global effort against gender-based violence (GBV). The campaign was inspired by the 1991 Women’s Global Leadership Institute, a response to the 1989 Montreal massacre, where Marc Lépine killed 14 female engineering students at the École Polytechnique in Canada. South Africa is known for having a world-class legislative framework protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children. These laws include the Sexual Offences Act, the Domestic Violence Act, the Children’s Act, and the Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. However, despite this progressive legislation, the country’s culture has not fully embraced these protections. South Africa remains a society marked by conservatism, with deeply entrenched cultural norms that perpetuate gender-based violence and child sexual abuse.
Gender-based violence (GBV), as defined by the South African College of Applied Psychology, is violence directed at someone based on their biological sex or gender identity. It can occur in both public and private spheres and includes verbal, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. GBV also encompasses threats, coercion, and deprivation of economic or educational resources. It is considered a human rights violation and an obstacle to achieving gender equality, hindering national development. The six main forms of GBV are violence against women and girls, violence against LGBTIQ+ individuals, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and indirect (structural) violence. While the majority of GBV victims are women and girls, men and boys also experience violence. GBV is a global issue, largely driven by systemic gender inequality, which disempowers women and girls and allows their basic human rights to be violated. A lack of economic opportunities, access to resources, and justice perpetuate this cycle of abuse.
The 2022 First South African National Gender-Based Violence Study, published by UN Women, found that South Africa remains a society deeply affected by violence, struggling with the lasting impacts of institutionalized exclusion, sexism, structural violence, and racism. The country has one of the highest rates of GBV, including intimate femicide, rape, and intimate partner violence. According to Safer Spaces, between 25% and 40% of South African women report experiencing sexual or physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Additionally, nearly 50% have disclosed experiencing emotional or economic abuse. Estimates suggest that between 12% and 28% of women report being raped in their lifetime, and between 28% and 37% of men admit to raping a woman. Alarmingly, most men who commit rape do so for the first time as teenagers, and nearly all have done so by their mid-20s. An article by Kammila Naidoo in The Global Dialogue highlights “corrective rape,” where men sexually assault lesbians to “cure” them of their sexual orientation, with an average of ten cases occurring weekly. Furthermore, UNICEF reports that 58% of children aged 5 to 16 experience sexual abuse or violence, with 52% facing indirect victimization. Among these children, 25% experience family violence, 18% experience physical abuse, 13% face emotional abuse, and 12% endure neglect.
The drivers of GBV in South Africa include socio-economic dependency, rigid gender roles, toxic masculinity, and cultural, religious, and social factors. This essay focuses on the role of heteropatriarchal gender norms and toxic masculinity in shaping attitudes toward violence and gender, and how culture has fueled the rise of femicide in the country. Additionally, I will explore the disconnect between South Africa’s progressive legislation and its entrenched cultural practices.
Toxic masculinity is socialized from a young age. Boys are groomed to view masculinity not as participation in society, but as dominance over others. As a result, boys grow from victims of patriarchy to collaborators in it and, eventually, perpetrators. Girls, in turn, are socialized to endure this violence and accept it as a rite of passage. Masculinity is not taught to encourage positive social interactions, but to overpower other identities. This is why men are not socialized to be decent human beings to the same extent that women and queer individuals are socialized to conform to masculinity. The disconnect between masculinity and personhood extends beyond men’s relationships with others; it also affects how men relate to themselves. Men often have little connection to their own bodies. In discussions about consent, it becomes clear that men do not value their bodies as much as women do. Practices such as poor hygiene reveal this neglect, which contributes to a lack of empathy toward others’ bodies. Men who do not care for their own bodies are more likely to treat others’ bodies recklessly. When individuals nurture and value their own bodies, they develop autonomy, which leads to a better understanding of consent.
Many men struggle with consent because patriarchal conditioning teaches them to view women’s bodies not as autonomous beings, but as objects for their pleasure. This conditioning leads men to believe that teenage girls are capable of consenting to sex, as their sexual desires are prioritized over the autonomy and humanity of others. This mindset extends to how men view children, whom they see as extensions of women and as more vulnerable. Men often fail to recognize abuse by women and struggle to understand that women have equal agency. Consequently, men dismiss abusive relationships as “toxic” and label abusive women as “crazy.” This reflects a deep disconnect in how men view women’s power and responsibility.
The disconnect between South Africa’s progressive legislation and its cultural practices is partly due to inadequate education on the Constitution. The principles enshrined in the Constitution should be taught in schools at every level, yet this is not the case. In both rural and urban areas, outdated cultural practices continue to perpetuate harmful gender norms, encouraging abuse and fostering distrust in the legal system. Many women are reluctant to speak out about gender-based violence due to the fear of public backlash and intimidation. The recent Women for Change vs. Chris Brown debacle highlighted how deeply entrenched these attitudes are, revealing a culture in which women’s rights are routinely violated and men defend perpetrators rather than supporting victims. This reflects a broader societal failure to recognize and address abuse.
Furthermore, the Skeem Saam rape storyline exposed how some men only understand the wrongness of rape in terms of its legal consequences, not as a violation of a woman’s autonomy and humanity. This highlights a widespread failure to instill a genuine understanding of consent and respect for women’s rights.
To address GBV and femicide in South Africa, we must focus on the root cause: how men are socialized. Women, children, and queer individuals cannot continue to bear the brunt of men’s failure to exist peacefully within their communities. It is essential that non-perpetrator men recognize how their behavior benefits from toxic masculinity and hold their peers accountable. We cannot afford to soften our victimization with #notallmen while women and children are dying at an alarming rate. The government must implement policies that ensure the Constitution is more than a document – it must become a guiding principle in everyday life. This is the only way to create a society that reflects the progressive nature of our laws and becomes a safe space for all citizens.
