S.African boys often forced to have sex

I am honestly surprised and shocked by this. I really don't like it when I'm gobsmacked.

This story is very sad, especially here in the US where we recognize the long term social and mental damage that is caused to rape victims. The chance of these boys getting counseling or therapy for their abuse is zero while the unfortunate true that the chance of they themselves one day becoming the rapist rises

I can't imagine how terrible it would be to not only bare the pain of rape but also have the fear of infection from HIV as well. Hopefully this study will help ease the stigma felt by victims of both to find that this is so sadly endemic.

These boys that are getting raped are never going to get over it. It's something that you can never psychologically put behind you.Sadly, I don't think there will be any improvement in the near future, but hopefully I'm wrong.

So sad..yet so true. And the harsh reality is that it happens all over the world to so many kids everyday..if I was rich I would try and save them all.

If I was rich? You don't have to be rich... you have to be effective. Money is one way to be effective. Active protesting (I'm not talking tree hugger shit) and effective boycotting (by any means necessary) is another.

We need to get away from thinking money is the answer for everything. It doesn't make things easier, it complicates everything.

P.S.
As far as these boys not having help, it's everyone's fault. Why don't rich therapists or doctors volunteer to go to Africa once a month to see those children who have been raped, in fact see as many children as they can, raped or not. They can get on a plane for their celebrity clients & money, why not to do something good in this world.

HilmGuss, victims may not ever "get over it", but they can certainly live their lives as well adjusted adults. Trauma doesn't define a victim if they find a way to "own" the experience. It didn't kill them, it gave them an understanding to life that others don't have. They can use it to their benefit.

This can only occur if we help take the stigma off being a rape victim. The act is horrendous, but the stigma is the cross they bear for the rest of their lives, not the actual act itself.

...Not happy with this news, to say the least.
Dumfounded and disgusted to be honest.
Someone needs to help these children,theyre just children for crying out loud.

This is the sort of news that makes it impossible for me to think I have 'problems' in my life. When compared with these young boys who have been sexually abused, all of my 'difficulties' pale in comparison.

It's just like the time those men were raping young women who were believed to be virgins, thinking it was the closest thing to safe sex. I'm a little surprised that women are such a large part of the abuse. Not to say that women don't do it, but it makes you realize just how much healing Africa is going to need.

My heart goes out to these children.. I hope the best and will pray.

Sadly the exploitation of children is a world wide phenomenon, and the United States is not innocent in this regard by any stretch of the imagination. The United States is just better at keeping child rape secret.

This is the type of story that national news should be covering! I don't care what the presidential nominees ate for breakfast, I want to know how to help these kids and improve schools in Africa.

may I play a bit of devil's advocate here--just to spice up the conversation? =D how can imposed sex from a woman be as bad as that imposed from a man? Is one generally more violent than the other? I mean....unless she's really *really* ugly or intentionally as violent about it, as far as actual copulation goes at least...doesn't one wonder?

I think the truly sicker experience has to be getting raped by a man (ewww!) i just wonder, from a young boy's perspective with an ability to get it up, if getting "raped" by a woman is somehow more tolerable (perhaps even considered more naturally pleasurable even in a "perverse" sense) than getting raped (more unnaturally by my own account) by a man. And if it's the majority of merely horny indiscriminate women doing the raping (much like teens today having sex because they want to with the help of Planned Parenthood telling them they don't have to fight what feels good if they use a rubber no matter what parents say), how much damage is actually being done?

*sigh* even at a young age, I myself was aware of sex, and I knew other young girls that were too, interested or curious. I saw it with my own eyes and it wasn't necessarily malicious or "bad" when I saw my classmates getting together for feeling up under a pool table after school. So I can't help but wonder, were they too modest to ask if the boys enjoyed it, and if so, how much of that is "normal" from the child's perspective anyway. Psychologically, I mean I used to wonder about sex even in gradeschool though some might call that abnormal, to me it wasn't, and I saw that in others as well. I consider myself a well-adjusted, confident, intelligent and productive adult today. Obviously there have to be respectable "statutory" limits, so I do not discount any legal aspects, but I wonder how much damage is really done aside from the fact that little boys might learn at an earlier age what feels good...from a woman I mean.

Like i say...devi's advocate for a change =P lol

Its happening here too.

No echoz.... one doesn't wonder, If it was a question that could be wondered am sure it would of been used as a defense for rape in court. "I'm fit he/she liked it really, it was a honour for them". Seeing as it hasn't been used your talking out your arse.

I only signed up in fact just to tell you how you are talking complete and utter rubbish! Do you write for the Mail?

Its been documented that some women have admitted they came during rape, it makes the situation even worse for said women leaving them feeling betrayed by their own body, pleasure doesn't make rape ok, it leaves the victim feeling confused and dirty. As a male, rape by a women can leave a man or boy feeling emasculated and makes speaking out harder due to fear and discovery of this 'loss'.

Rape isn't illegal and disgusting as it feels physically bad, its illegal as it can crush people mentally and totally destroy them, something that can happen to men too, making rape of either sex a despicable crime.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT ever confuse playground curiosity about the opposite sex and rape again. It makes you appear the complete opposite of a "well-adjusted, intelligent adult".

Well, I would estimate even if the boys did "enjoy" the rape, the more volatile situation that arises from the incident is their treatment of women after that experience, as wells as their ability to deal with situations withouth acting in haste and thinking things through.

Some (such as myself) would say a rape is not necessarily an atrocious crime due solely to the act itself (granted the more violent or sadistic the act, the harder it is to get back to a feeling of "normalcy" for the victim), rather it is the psychological effects the crime has on the victim.

Boys, more than girls, are less likely to share their feelings about the act once they talk about the crime. They may internalize theses feelings and because they are boys may likely be told they should "get over it" more quickly than a young girl being raped.

This can lead to a precarious situation in which feelings, emotions, or conscience no longer play a role in the boys' lives when they go about with their daily routines. In other words the likelihood they may commit crimes in the future goes up since they now have a dissociative disorder when it comes to actions and thinking them through.

For girls the trauma suffered has more to do with trust and feeling as though they are "damaged" and no longer worthy of any love or affection. Although the boys may also have a lack of trust in older women, girls tend to have a lack of trust for anyone they don't have a strong emotional connection to, man or woman.

Boys, more often than not, deal with lack of trust by keeping to themselves and not being emotional. Girls tend to deal with lack of trust by hurting themselves and building an impenetrable wall of emotions (anger, depression, sadness, etc).

While boys may also feel depressed or angry, as stated before they tend to internalize these feelings and instead of lashing out by hurting themselves they tend to hurt others to justify the acts that occurred against them.

Granted this doesn't apply in a general sense to all rape victims, everyone deals with their experience differently. However, based on first hand experience and reading a plethora of articles, studies, and books on the subject, this tends to be the reaction that male and female victims have.

In both scenarios (a young girl being raped by a man & a boy being raped by a woman) the psychological damage far outlasts and outweighs the physical damage (as stated before this is not a general statement that should be applied to all rape victims, just something that has been implied by numerous studies on the subject).

A case by case approach is always the best way to gauge these theories, however the psychological damage is quite well known and seen in victims across the board.

So boys may enjoy the actual orgasm through no real fault of their own, but due to the brain's release of pleasure endorphins during an orgasm, however they are not associating it with a good memory of the experience. This will undoubtedly lead to them not being able to decipher the difference between discomfort and pleasure, and can have tremendous effects on how they deal with situations in life (no matter how small or big those situations are).

This is reverse sexism. I dont think many people think of it as rape if it is a male, it is, and it is just as despicable as rape to women.

"Two out of five male South African students say they have been raped" is a shocking statistic. Completely awful.

It's fascinating as well to hear that women are often the perpetrators in these cases - not something you hear about very often. I gues it's all about power, exploitation and an utter disregard for another human being and it's disgusting. Unfortunately these are all human characteristics, not just the preserve or one sex or the other...

oh these poor boys why arent we helping?!

Tragic situation over there and not really comparable to other areas given the reasons behind it.

how can you rape a boy?

i can see that they might be getting seduced, but i find it hard to believe that someone can force a male to have intercourse...

it just doesnt seem physically possible

If the data for young South African girls was published we would most likely see 4 out of 5. Neither South or Central Africa is known for enforcing laws for the crime of rape.

As controversial as my thoughts are in my head. I find a hard time feeling so bad for these young boys for the simple fact that females have it so much worse especially in Africa. I dont know if you guys have seen the video for breast ironing but that is terrible. In Africa there is also something called female genital mutilation. Please look that up if you feel I am out of line for the statement.

I am not saying that it is right but the simple fact that women live in such an oppressive society I can see how this can happen. I also have a hard time fathoming this happening. How can a male become erect if not aroused.

Then it must be true what they say about African men's... Full grown women wanting boys 10-19 yrs old. T

his is a terrible epidemic facing the African continent. Perhaps we should genetically modify the men, so that they are on an even footing with the rest of the ethnicities in this "area".

Hah... I had to do it.

Horrible. I am against the death penalty in most cases, but ruining a child's innocence, taking away what one day would be a very meaningful, and important moment in their adult life, taking the pleasure from every touch and moment. That is worth death, in my book.
People who commit such acts, should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and where the law falters, as far as the punisher extends.
It is worse than murder, because you're dead, but there's no peace, no escape.