In recent times, we are witnessing the practice of transactional relationships between adolescent girls and older, financially well-off men (sugar daddies and blessers).
IN A NEW book titled Worse Than War, Fearon and Hoeffler conclude from their extensive international research that interpersonal violence, homicide, intimate partner violence, and sexual violence kill and injure more people than war. This violence also costs society more. Yet war attracts greater media and policy attention. The authors argue that violence happening quietly inside homes, in schools, and on streets does far more damage than war and terrorism combined.
Their research shows that funding and policy efforts aimed at reducing interpersonal violence and sexual violence in schools merit a higher priority, but we do not seem to be giving this problem the serious attention it needs.
Sexual violence has plagued society for centuries, occurring in the home, workplaces, in sports, social activities, and even places of worship. Reports of such atrocities are becoming more frequent at schools and universities in South Africa despite legislation that guarantees the protection of vulnerable learners. The problem is not a lack of policy but of institutional will and enforcement capacity.
