ESPN looks at 'corrective rape' in South Africa

By Neil BestMay 7, 2010

Just watched a rough cut of Jeremy Schaap's report on "corrective rape" in South Africa, scheduled for Tuesday night's edition of "E:60."

Let me put it this way: It appears anyone concerned ESPN will approach the 2010 World Cup with a sugar-coated view of the event and the host nation has nothing to fear.

This is a disturbing look at a phenomenon in which some men rape lesbians on the theory that the act might "cure" them of their sexual preference.

Often, the victims of such crimes have been soccer players.

The report asserts South Africa has the world's highest reported rate of rape, that an estimated half of all women in the nation will be raped in their lifetimes and that the nation is notoriously intolerant of homosexuals.

“The whole world is going to be focusing on South Africa this summer and during our visit in March it was disturbing to find that there is so much violence committed against lesbians, including lesbian soccer players,'' Schaap said in news release.

"It was also disturbing that the authorities in some cases don’t seem to pursue these crimes with the same vigor that they do crimes against straight women. It’s a very sad story and an important one because an entire community in South Africa, the lesbian community, lives in fear.”