Last week I had the pleasure of joining the WAR Campaign on their school tour. This tour involves visiting various schools around Cape Town where they speak to high school students about rape while dispelling myths and stereotypes present in South African culture. When I arrived at Hillsong Church last Monday I truly had no idea what to expect from the experience- I had never attended Hillsong Church before and had never even heard of the WAR Campaign until the week previous. My first impression was how large, modern, and beautiful the building was and also how young the members of the campaign were- I myself am 24 years old, but I was not expecting for them to be in their twenties as well. This sparked my interest. They all gave off this very cool, hip, down to earth vibe which I assumed would greatly benefit their campaign since I expected that the high school students would see them as people that they could either relate to or view as great examples of who they could one day become. We all shared introductions, collected the campaign posters, stickers, pamphlets and the sound system, and all then piled into the van to drive to the first school in Mitchells Plain.

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We love seeing so many people come forward at the end of the assemblies to speak up against rape. #warcampaigntour

A post shared by The WAR Campaign (@thewarcampaign) on Oct 17, 2016 at 12:01pm PDT

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I had decided to stay out of the debate on the Rape Crisis blog between “Fifty Shades of Feminism” and “Burlesque”, posts by the present and former directors of Rape Crisis. Many reasons: remembering being the “angry young feminist”, feeling caught between the older and younger generations of feminists, but most of all, affection for the personalities behind the blogs. I’ve seen Carol dancing with joy in the shepherd’s cottage she calls home, goats and flowers outside. I’ve asked her how the sam hill she keeps up her tireless international advocacy for raped and abused children without losing her mind. Her response is to crank up the music and dance some more.

And then there’s Kath, with whom I go back so far, the letters she wrote me when I went travelling (which I still have) were written by hand. It was a time of boyfriends and breakups and brothers and baked potatoes. Some of the people we loved in those long-gone years are dead now, so she’s become one of my memory-bank friends. And we have the tie of Rape Crisis too, an organisation I’ve orbited since the late 1980s. I’ve never been a member, but I’ve been a researcher and consultant for the organisation on and off since 2001.

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On this day, 40 years ago, students took a stand against a violent and unjust system. We salute the courageous youth who fought for change in the 1976 uprisings.

Despite the rights we enjoy now, we still have a long way to go in changing attitudes around rape. This Youth Day, we’d like to shine the spotlight on our Peer Educators fighting rape culture in their schools and larger communities.

Rape culture is rooted in myths and stereotypes that normalise and excuse rape. By challenging these myths, our Peer Educators grow into leaders and role models, while changing attitudes towards women.

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The Athlone Counselling Team will be training new volunteers for the counselling service.  Applications will be available as from the 8^th June and completed applications need to be returned by the 1st of July 2016.

Counselling training in Observatory. Pic: Alexa Sedgwick.

Course fees:

The cost of the course is R4, 000.00 with a non-refundable registration fee which is R1, 500.00. Payment options are as follows:

• in full before or on the date of registration – R4, 000.00
• registration fee and payment over the duration of the experiential training course – R1,500.00 on or before registration plus R833.33 per month for 3 months
• registration fee and payment over the duration of the experiential training course and probation – R1,500.00 on or before registration plus R277.78 over 9 months
• registration fee and outsourced sponsorship. Once your application for the training is approved, we can provide you with a letter supporting your appeal – R1,500.00 on or before registration and you seek sponsorship for the remainder of the fees.

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[Pic: “Women who get drunk are not asking to be raped. A person that is too drunk might be incapable of consenting to sex; sex without consent is rape – and no one asks to be raped. #MythSmashing”]

Not only is this socially complex, but even the legal position can be quite complicated. In the below discussion, we aim to provide a short outline of the legal position regarding intoxication, rape and consent:

Currently, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 governs the legal position regarding rape and a range of other sexual offences.  Section 3 of the Act provides the following definition for rape:

 “Any person (‘A’) who unlawfully and intentionally commits an act of sexual

penetration with a complainant (‘B’), without the consent of B, is guilty of the offence of

rape.”

From the above, it is clear that the absence of consent is a vital element of the definition of rape. If complainant/ survivor did not consent to the sexual act, then A will be guilty of rape.

This begs the question: “What is consent?” Luckily, the Act provides the answer in Section 1(2) by explaining that consent entails a voluntary and un-coerced agreement. For consent to be present, both persons has to enter into a voluntary agreement to partake in sex.

The Act also states that there are circumstances in which someone (B) cannot give voluntary and un-coerced consent.  If there is therefore a sexual act under these circumstances, it was not consensual. These circumstances include:

• Where someone uses force or intimidation against B or another person or their property
• Where someone threatens to harm B or another person or their property
• Where there is an abuse of power or authority by someone to the extent that B cannot indicate his/her unwillingness to participate in the sexual act.
• Where B is incapable of appreciating the nature of the sexual act, including where B is, at the time of the commission of such sexual act asleep, unconscious, or in an altered state of consciousness. This could be due to the fact that B is under the influence of any medicine, drug, alcohol or other substance to the extent that B’s consciousness or judgment is adversely affected.

For our discussion it is important to understand that, if someone is in an altered state of consciousness due to being under the influence of medicine, alcohol or drugs to the extent that the person’s consciousness or judgment is adversely effected, that person cannot consent to sex.  If someone therefore had sex with you while you were so drunk that your consciousness or judgment was severely affected and you were incapable of appreciating the nature of the act, the sex was non-consensual and could amount to rape.

The above position clearly highlights that someone who has sex with a person who is drunk or unconscious and therefore cannot understand the nature of the sexual act, is a perpetrator of rape. No survivor should ever be discouraged to seek help, get counselling or report a rape even if you were drunk the time. Remember: Being drunk is not a crime, rape is a crime.

By Jeanne Bodenstein

Jeanne is Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust’s Advocacy Coordinator. She is an admitted attorney and lover of pizza and red wine.

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