The mechanical basis for a link between HIV infection and forced sex is easy to understand: lacerations increase transmission of the virus.
Forced sex is common in South Africa. Even using face-to-face interviews (a scenario in which many people would be unwilling to share their experiences), the Reproductive Health Research Unit (RHRU) 2003 study found 10% of females aged 15-24 years were forced to have sex. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires allow more people to disclose. In 2002, CIET collected data from 269,705 school-going youth at 1,400 schools across the country. Overall 9% of male and female school-goers aged 10-19 years said they had been forced to have sex in the year prior to the study. Under the age of 15 years, male school-goers were more likely to report forced sex than were females of the same age, possibly because unwanted pregnancies reduce the number of abused girls in school. Rates of abuse climbed rapidly with increasing age of female school-goers, whereas it levelled out in males. Read full article.
By Neil Andersson

Violence against women has become pervasive in South African society, penetrating every social and economic class. The fact that this violence involves people with a strong religious commitment is not unusual. The world religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam teach peace and peace-making but their adherents are frequently violent and warlike, whether on the battlefield or in the home. This paper will discuss how patriarchy penetrates Christian belief and structures and thus undergirds violence against women. Read full article.
By Susan Rakoczy

An identified barrier to understanding and confronting sexual harassment in educational settings in Nigeria is the absence of reliable information, and inadequate documentation of the nature and extent of the problem across educational settings. What, for example is the nature and extent of sexual harassment in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions? How widespread is it? How vulnerable are different categories of women to sexual violence and coercion? In what circumstances is sexual harassment not likely to occur? What precise forms of power (social, legal, economic) do girls and women need to combat sexual harassment? How much of sexual choice and rights do women have and exercise in Nigeria? What elements of the culture encourage sexual violence? And how seriously implicated is sexual harassment in increasing the risk of exposure to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS?
These are crucial questions that need answers through specially designed studies as the ones conducted in Lagos State University (and five other Nigerian universities). Pilot studies were first conducted and thereafter followed by the ongoing and more comprehensive national studies undertaken by the Abuja-based Network for Women's Studies in Nigeria (NWSN). Read full article. 
By Olaide A. Adedokun