I came across an article on Yahoo this week about a video that's gone viral in S.A.
The video is of a girl being gang raped. I am going to comment on a few things.
Here's a link to said article

"The Star newspaper reported online that the video lasts 10 minutes and 33 seconds, showing her being raped by seven different males, as she screams: "You are forcing me, you are forcing me." "

Call me cynical, but I fail to see the entertainment value here. How twisted do you have to be to actually sit and watch this? Even worse, to FORWARD it?!?! I'm extremely disgusted.
Today, more than ever, I'm ashamed to say I'm from a place where things like this can happen.

Some shocking statistics from the article:

A 2009 study by the government's Medical Research Council revealed that only one in 25 rapes were reported to the police.
The same survey found more than one quarter of South African men admitted to raping a woman or girl.

Okay from a personal standpoint, this one wasn't such a shocker for me.
To be blunt, almost all of my friends have been raped. And of them, only one actually had a court case.
Without gory details, she was 12 when it happened. It was a family friend. She needed stitches. STITCHES.
I'm sure you'd love to hear the happy story of how the justice system came through for her and she found closure through justice but, sadly, the court case was just a complete waste of 2 years of her life. The guy was sentenced to a few hours of community service.
No, I'm not kidding.

But there's actually a silver lining in all this. And it might be a little dark but, knowing that almost everyone you know has been through it, makes it easier to deal with.
Not to say it makes it "normal" but you feel less alone about it, you know?

And you know what makes me most upset about this incident?
This is the third time it's happened in the past year. THIRD.
Someone please tell me of anywhere else in the world where rapists are stupid enough to video record a rape.
Oh, wait, that's right, in NORMAL places, the rapists aren't kids dressed in school uniform.
As you can see, I'm pretty angry about this. It's disgusting. And I'd love to lobby for the reinstatement of the death sentence. Or at least have rapists castrated like in Saudi Arabia.

Moving right along before I spoil my great day..