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Anti-rape activist students banned from Rhodes University for life

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Two female students have been banned from Rhodes University for life and may never complete their studies.

This comes after they participated in an anti-rape protest at the institution in Grahamstown in April 2016.

In November, the University found the students guilty of kidnapping, assault, defamation and insubordination after four male students were dragged out of their dorm rooms, spat on, assaulted with empty water bottles and taunted.

The male students had been fingered as alleged rapists at the university.

“A first-year student attends a campus social. She leaves her drink unattended and the next thing she remembers waking up in her dorm room.

She confronts the suspect; he doesn’t deny it and instead ridicules her for not recalling what a great time they had the night before. She tries to report it, but campus authorities discourage her, saying she would damage the alleged perpetrators’ reputation – after all he is a star student.

This is a common occurrence on our university campuses – according to the Centre for Gender Equality and that the rape culture is deeply entrenched, with male entitlement the order of the day.”

Yolanda, whom we are not going to name to protect her identify, recalls a compulsory practice that all first years at Rhodes are subjected to.

“Female residents will go to male residences and kind of perform and sing at the same time, a mash up of some kind of sexual connotations, you know, the lyrics or sexual innuendo accompanied by sexualised dance moves. First years are forced to participate and again it’s highly uncomfortable because you’re sexualised; you’re objectified and then you make tea for these men as a part of the meet and greet.”

The practice of blaming rape victims for the way they’re dressed has come in for strong censure.

However, just two years ago female students were taken to task by the university over the types of clothing they wore.

“And that we’d have to know not wear really short outfits or short short and skirts or any revealing tops because apparently the men who worked in the dining hall felt that we, as women, were being overtly sexual. So, we were just so confused that we have to rework our wardrobes because the men that work at the dining hall feel uncomfortable with seeing some flesh.”

It’s quite ironic that as South Africans marked the 16 Days of Activism campaign against gender-based violence, student activists who led a protest against the rape culture were effectively handed a life sentence.

Dominique is one of the student leaders. She asked that we only use her first name.

“Once you notice rape culture, it’s like you’re looking into this whole other world that everyone else around you seems to be ignoring and every now again, you see people getting a glimpse into this. To say me too I’m a survivor or me too I’ve experienced this and as a woman, I feel that everyone has an experience on the spectrum of rape culture and every woman has been violated in some way. It doesn’t have to be rape. It just has to be made uncomfortable in your own skin.”

In 2016, after a list was circulated naming 11 alleged sexual predators on campus, the female students decided to take matters into their own hands.

One night, a mob dragged four of the suspects out of their dorm rooms.

 

The women intend challenging both the guilty finding and the sanction in court.

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