Apartheid's 'rape crisis
Understanding and addressing sexual violence in South Africa, 1970s-1990s
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4348154 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emily Bridger (0000-0002-9583-0853, Department of Archaeology and History, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 265-284 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Women s History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0961-2025 • E-ISSN: 1747-583X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09612025.2023.2219535 |
| OpenAlex | W4380611333 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
Although rape in South Africa today is commonly framed as a post-apartheid ‘crisis’, neither sexual violence nor public concern about it in the country is new. This article explores an earlier period of ‘rape crisis’ from the 1970s to early 1990s, when sexual violence became a key topic of discussion amongst apartheid politicians, Black community leaders, feminist activists, and ordinary men and women. Focusing on the township of Soweto, it examines why public concern about sexual violence emerged during this period and how rape was conceptualised and responded to. It demonstrates how multiple and often competing social and political agendas constrained attempts to understand and address sexual violence in the country’s townships: the growth of feminist activism; the intensification of the liberation struggle and attempts to repress it; public panic about crime; and shifting gender power dynamics. These divergent responses to rape reveal the challenges of addressing sexual violence within the contexts of anti-racist movements and competing political struggles. Exploring these longer histories not only addresses a gap in South African historiography, but also helps to develop a more global and comparative understanding of how gender, race, and class intersect in producing conceptualisations of rape and responses to it
Criminology · Economic growth · Economics · Political science · Sexual violence · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · South African History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |