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Women
and Children in Portions of Africa are Being Sexually Violated by Men Who
Believe That Sex With a Virgin will Cure Their AIDS-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
This eRumor says that there is a myth in Africa, especially South Africa,
that having
sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. It talks about an epidemic
of infected males violating virgins, including children because of
the belief that the younger the virgin, the more potent the
cure. It references the rape of a 9-month-old by 6 men.
It also says that another 9-month-old was raped and is fighting for
her life. The email asks you to participate in an email
petition to retain the Child Protection Unit in South Africa.
The Truth: This is one of the issues TruthOrFiction.com has often cited as an
example of "urban legends that kill."
The spread of AIDS in Africa is startling and the debris in the
lives of its people is heartbreaking. Jeffrey Bartholet said
in the 1/17/2000 issue of Newsweek that 85 percent of the world's
deaths from AIDS in 1999 were in Africa. The life expectancy
in some African countries is decreasing alarmingly. In the
same issue, a different article said there are millions of orphans
in Africa whose parents have died of aids and that in Sub-Sahara
Africa, 6,000 men and women are dying each day of AIDS.
Added to that, however, is the rumor in parts of Africa, including
large portions of South Africa, that having sex with a virgin will
cleanse a male of AIDS. The Johannesburg city council
conducted a three-year study of about 28,000 men. They found
that 1 in 5 believed in the virgin-AIDS cure. The fallout from
that is a rise in assaults of women and children, some of whom
contract AIDS themselves.
Of particular alarm has been the rise in infant rapes. Not all
researchers blame that on the virgin-AIDS cure myth, but they
believe it has contributed to it. The rape of the
nine-month-old by six men in Upington at the end of 2001 enraged
many South Africans. That was followed by the discovery of a
seven-month-old who had been raped and left for dead in a suburb of
Capetown in November, 2001. There have been other high profile
cases since.
The eRumor asks readers to add their names to an email petition to
protest the closing down of South Africa's Child Protection Unit,
but South Africa's Minister of Safety and Security, Steve Tshwete,
says the unit is not being closed. That rumor got started in
mid-2001 when a parliamentary committee convened to discuss the unit
and observers though it meant the unit was in trouble.
Christina Jordaan, a social worker for the Department of Education
in South Africa, says there is a companion myth to the virgin-AIDS
cure that says that if a girl has her hymen intact, she will not
contract AIDS (CBS Healthwatch, 10/2000)
Complicating the problem in South Africa is a revival of an old Zulu
system of virginity testing. According to the July, 1999 issue
of the AIDS Information Newsletter, tens of thousands of young
people in South Africa are participating in the practice in which an
adult examines a girl for evidence of virginity.
Proponents say it promotes and honors abstinence, which helps cut
down on sexual activity, pregnancy, and disease. Opponents say
it's like advertising the virgins to potential perpetrators.
The girls who pass the test get white stars on their foreheads and a
certificate of virginity.
The belief in the virgin-AIDS cure is not restricted to
Africa. According to a Knight-Ridder report from Mark McDonald
in January of 2000, it is also helping fuel an increase in child
prostitution in Cambodia. McDonald says there are many Asian
men who believe that having sex with a virgin will cleanse their
AIDS. The same is true for India, according to the Fall, 1995
Harvard AIDS Review, and Jamaica, according to the Ministry of
Health in Jamaica. The belief in curing AIDS by having sex
with a virgin is apparently an outgrowth of a long-standing belief
in many cultures in the restorative and healing powers of virgins
and having sex with virgins.
A real example of the story as it has
been circulated:
Dear All,
There is a myth in South Africa that having sex
with a virgin will cure
AIDS. The younger the virgin, the more potent the
cure, This has led to an
epidemic of rapes by infected males, with the
correspondent infection of
innocent kids. Many have died in these cruel rapes.
Recently in Cape Town,
a nine month old baby was raped by 6 men. The
child abuse situation is now
reaching catastrophic proportions and if we don't
do something then who
will? Please forward this on to as many people as
you know and after the
120th name on the petition mail it to
childprotectpca@saps.org.za.
Don't be complacent, do something about the kids of
South Africa! You can
make a difference!
A nine month old infant was raped yesterday
29/10/2001 by six
men. The poor child is fighting for her life. This
is just but one of the
million
cases of child abuse, so please pledge your support
and help keep CPU open.
This is a very important petition. SAPS are trying
to close down The CHILD
PROTECTION UNIT. It is an essential part of our
justice system for
children. Please give your support to this petition
and ensure that it goes
to as many
people as possible. Please do not just leave it!
Cut and paste so this can
stay tidy - ALL IT TAKES TO HELP IS A CLICK!!!
After Every 120 signatures -
mailto:childprotectpca@saps.org.za
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