MISOGYNY AND VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK LESBIANS: DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS OF "CORRECTIVE RAPE" IN SOUTH AFRICA

"Corrective rape," an act characterized as a man raping a lesbian in an effort to turn her straight, is a growing problem in South Africa. Despite being hailed as the rainbow nation, South Africa has neglected to address incidents of discrimination and hate crimes perpetrated against lesbians. In this thesis, I use an intersectional frame to examine accounts of "corrective rape" in 95 articles published between 2009 and 2013 in 13 different South African newspapers. I begin by tracing the production and construction of "corrective rape," in particular how the media discourse constructs the attacks and how it marginalizes the women who survive these attacks. Then, drawing from poststructural discourse analysis, I demonstrate how South African-ness is constituted around discourses of lesbianism and "corrective rape," in particular how the media discourse constructs how views on lesbians and "corrective rape" are either antithetical to being truly South African or are key in establishing oneself a part of democratic South African culture. Finally, I offer some thoughts on the implications these findings have for the global discourse on lesbians.