What I want to know is what constitutes "an indication" of unconsciousness? Given that unconscious people--to say nothing of people who are so drunk that they can't move--can't say "Hey, asshole, I'm unconscious," isn't the onus on the people around them to bloody well find out if they're unconscious? Because if somebody's so fucking drunk that they're actually unconscious--not asleep, but unconscious, so that when you shake them they don't roll away, let alone tell you to fuck off--you should be calling a goddamned ambulance.

And how disgusting is it that the cameramen and all the assorted reality TV production crew just sat there and did nothing?

I cannot believe people just sat there and watched it happen. Next time he could be sticking a knife in her; I wonder if they're just keep on filming from the sidelines then!

And sniffing his fingers? Disgusting.

If she didn't actively consent, he should be arrested for sexual assault REGARDLESS of if there was "indication that she was unconscious at the time."

I wonder if she even knew this had happened before the show aired.

Wow. This really made my stomach turn.

How many seconds before people are jumping down her throat for drinking too much and "putting herself in a dangerous position?"

After I was assaulted when I was drunk on a blind date, the first person I talked to (the person who set me up with him) told me that I shouldn't have drank with him. What did I expect?
That sent me into a downward spiral for about a year or so.
I feel for this woman.

Unless the victim is an infant, rape is rarely if ever prosecuted in South Africa. A couple years ago, when there was a slew of infant rapes in the shanty townships, there was discussion of bringing back the death penalty to prosecute infant (yes, infants, like 5 months old infants) rapist--generally, it should be noted that the rape of an infant also results in her death, so really a review of the death penalty in cases of death-by-rape of babies. Despite a highly publicized case, the death penalty was not re-instated (not that I'm for the death penalty, but it made for an interesting debate to follow in a post-death penalty society).

Rape culture in parts of Africa, the Congo, Kenya, and South Africa particularly, are really beyond imagining and do reflect a sharp increase in the use of rape as a weapon of societal destablization. Much of the rape culture has to do with employment and the resentment on African MRA's part (though they don't use that term) toward women who work in for-wage industries (verses more traditional agriculture settings, though 2/3 of agri work is done by women & children in Africa as well). Infant rape cases almost always involve women who work to support their family for wages and must leave their children in the care of other women or relatives (those babies are targeted to punish working women...kind of like how women are raped to punish their men, its a matter of perceived ownership and pride). Raping women going back and forth to work is also common. Male unemployment is extremely high in some of these regions and some global employers hire primarily women because they are less likely to ask for better wages/conditions because they are desperate and notions of "honor" do not fetter them, unlike many males.

Globalization, corporate abuse, land-grabing, and corruption along with traditional patriarchal norms (and out-right misogyny) all combine to make for a perfect storm of rape culture, victim blaming, and cyclical poverty. I think that when many Westerners look at Africa, they tend to blame the "backwards cultures and worldviews of those people" but the fact is, yes there has been patriarchy in Africa as long as any other region, but the rape culture and misogyny of today is different and in many ways, colonially-driven (by both the abuses of past colonial powers and current colonial structures where corporations are our/their overlords).

I think that its important to avoid saying things like "Africa is doomed" or "life will never be decent for the Africans because they're too backward." That's an easy out for people who don't want to contemplate how far Africa still needs to come (and how much the West is to going to have to help because we--from King Leopold to BP to defense contractors like Blackwater--have helped make parts of Africa literal nightmares.

Peace

p.s. And "by help" I don't mean go into African countries and dictate exactly what needs to be done and how; I mean leash our own corporate entities, enforce laws on our side that honor fair-trade and human rights in trade agreements (newly made of course, since right now we have trade agreements that favor abuse), and re-invest in Africa as reparations for past colonial wrongs.

Lots of good points are being brought up - did she know this happened to her before it aired? The piece says, "But the $100,000 on offer to the winner may prove chump change compared to the settlement sought by Ofunneka and her lawyers once she escapes the Big Brother bubble and views footage of her very public humiliation." Bubble?

Also, I hope his wife dumps his ass.

On another indirect but very relevant note, OMGWTF!!!
Did any of you see or hear of this before???!
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=2140

If even the richest sub-Saharan country South Africa is pretty much the rape capital of the world (in number of rapes per capita) with raping of babies (because sex with virgins cures AIDS) I don't have great hope for Africa. Rape is South Africa is literally like saying hello

On the (very) common rapes of infants in African countries (especially South Africa): Many infants die, but quite a few also survive but grow up with a host of health issues from organ failures to being crippled. I can't remember the name or the org who put together a documentary, but it was very hard for me to watch a particular story about an infant who survived a rape at three months old. I am sure many of you know this, but these babies are not being raped simply to punish the mothers who work, because plenty of them don't - but because of the spread of the myth that sex with a virgin cures AIDS. The ages of the victims started to decrease to the point where men decided to rape infants because they are the only ones guaranteed to be virgins. It's a horrific myth that unfortunately has spread all over Africa and Asia, and has been going on for many many years.

I can't even verbalize what I am feeling about infant rape.

Does anyone know if Molokwu has spoken out about what happened?

The Rapex is, in my opinion a pretty good defense. If a fuckwad is gonna rape, then its perfectly fine with me if his dick gets shredded.

"Rape is [sic] South Africa is literally like saying hello"

Wow. That's offensive. I have several South African friends, and I bet they would like to read that and reply to it. Rape is very common in South Africa, and that's very sad and very wrong, but come on...

No doubt, nerdalert.

balom, rather than throw your hands up and lament that you have no hope for Africa, it might be wise to examine why crime is such a problem in South Africa- we could start by examining how, say, over four decades of apartheid might have hurt the nation.

But, saying you have no hope for the people of an entire continent, and that "rape... is literally like saying hello" just reinforces a whole lot of nasty racist beliefs that, I think, we'd be better served fighting.

balom: So you're essentially saying ""Well, this is [South] Africa." ?

I think we have some pretty objective proof that resignation and acceptance, if not actively promotes, at least allows, rape to continue.

Jem, I never realized that infants would die or become crippled from rape. I never thought about the specifics or the physical realities of that before. That's just so horrible.

I've heard before about the myth that sex/rape with a virgin cures AIDS, but I never believed it until an acquaintance of mine went to Africa and told me it's true. Even if it was true, it's so horrible to believe that people would sacrifice someone else for themselves. I know desperate times call for desperate measures, but don't people have moral limits?

Jem,

Yes it is commonly cited by rapist of infants that the "reason" they rape infants is to cure themselves of
HIV/AIDS,however some studies have shown that there is a very low occurance of people believing that particular myth and that the rapes themselves are more a part of manifestations of hate, anger, and resentment of their economic conditions and as MRA's here like to blame women for all problems of the average bloke, those rapist rape babies as part of a lashing out at the children/infants of working women who are "taking their jobs." The problem with taking infant rapist's word as to why they rape is just like looking at the reasons rapists across the globe blame for THEIR ACTIONS--they are trying to justify their heinous actions or dismiss them ("she wanted it," "she gave me blue balls, what was I supposed to do?" "my commanding officer order me to", etc).

Also, I'd like to make sure that this point is clear: THE RAPE OF INFANTS IS NOT COMMON, EVEN IN SOUTH AFRICA. It has happened and been publicized by international media outlets (even Prince Harry held an infant who had been a victim of rape and teared-up on a BBC special).

And yes, some infants do survive their assault, but the case I was citing involved the death of the baby, thus the debate over re-instating the death penalty.

My point in bringing up infant rape was not to make it seem common place (because it is extraordinary) but to show that in terms of rallying men and women to do something about sexual violence in South Africa, the victim has to be absolutely innocent--a baby, even children are somehow tainted by a general ability to try to run away. Its f*&ked that women being raped is so common place that the police and courts don't do their job in individual cases--and often its resources being cited and that those few resources need to be spent on worthy things, like investigating the theft of a white person's car. That's why I brought it up--I don't want to further stigmatize South Africans (and thus "Black Folks") as particularly oriented toward this kind of crime. Infant rape happens in the US too--my sister is a social worker and someone in her office had to deal with getting a mother to GO ALONG WITH THE PROSECUTION RIGHT HERE IN THE US...she was reluctant because it was her boyfriend.

This makes me want to cry.

Also, I didn't see it in the article anywhere -- has he been kicked out of the house? Arrested? Has the victim left the house? And are they going to continue with the season?

Quite sad. I find it even more appalling that the show's executives tried to pass it off as drunken antics - completely consensual. Bull shit. I sincerely hope that Ms. Ofunneka takes legal action against Bezuidenhout.

Unbelievable...

"My point in bringing up infant rape was not to make it seem common place (because it is extraordinary) but to show that in terms of rallying men and women to do something about sexual violence in South Africa, the victim has to be absolutely innocent--a baby, even children are somehow tainted by a general ability to try to run away."

The impression I got was that the attitude is less "she's tainted by her ability to run away" than stuff like "she must have wanted it, she wore a skirt [even if we want her elementary school to require skirts]" or "she should have wanted it, she's his wife [even if we forced that marriage on her]" or whatever.

I also got the impression that many jerks out there have these attitudes, even when the jerks and victims aren't black and the rapes happen outside Africa.

"I don't have great hope for Africa. Rape is South Africa is literally like saying hello"

Balom - Sometimes I don't have hope for America but I still fight for change rather than dismissing a situation. Also, look up the definition of "literally."

"The Rapex is, in my opinion a pretty good defense. If a fuckwad is gonna rape, then its perfectly fine with me if his dick gets shredded."

Breeder - I wouldn't have a problem with a rapist getting his dick shredded either, but I wouldn't call Rapex "a pretty good defense." Because of the way it works, it does not prevent a rape from happening, it just causes damage after penetration. Which is still fine in my book, but it is not preventive and it does not help in gang rape situations either.

To Big Brother and the rapist - Fuck you.

Heather Nan,
A couple of things - I don't think either of us stigmatized South Africans, we both stated factual things. I suppose rather than saying 'very common' I should of said something else. It may not be very common, but it is not atypical either. I know media has a lot to do with this, and I'll never know if the 'crisis' between 2000 and 2003 was really that, or just additional media hype. And this myth of AIDS cure really did spread to other parts of the world, but I absolutely agree with you that the majority of these sexual crimes are manifestations of desperate poverty, it's not an excuse, but these circumstances play a large role. Also, infant rape happens in every country, I did not mean to indicate that this only occurs in South Africa. Just a couple of months ago something like this happened to a 3 month old in Michigan...

As for the season or this contestant, apparently - the show will continue, and he is actually one of the top contenders to win. From a viewer who described the episode:
"The man began "shouting and screaming that he was going to f**k all the girls". [there were three women]

He then dragged one onto a couch and tried to pull her jeans down, she said.

Bezuidenhout and Malokwu ended up in a bedroom, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her."

And of course "others slammed the woman for "having sex" with him..." even though she can't even remember paramedics examining her. Lovely.

http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4107260&fSectionId=434&fSetId=251

It looks like the two of them are both still in the house. Pretty creepy.

Is this show made by or affiliated with a company that we can boycott here in the States?