Research glossary

Statutory rape refers to sexual activity involving someone who is below the legal age of consent, even if the younger person appears to agree. The law recognises that children and younger teenagers may not fully understand the consequences of sexual activity and therefore cannot legally give consent in certain situations.

In South Africa, a person can legally consent to sex from the age of 16. A child under 12 cannot legally consent under any circumstances. Sexual activity involving a child under 12 is always considered rape under the law.

Sexual activity between children aged 12 to 15 is regulated by specific legal protections under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act. The law aims to protect young people from exploitation, especially where there is a significant age difference or power imbalance.

Example: If a 19-year-old has sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old, even if the 14-year-old says they agreed, it may be considered statutory rape because the younger person is below the age of legal consent.

when someone commits an act
of penetration with a child between the ages of
12 and 16, whether or not the child penetrated
consents

Stealthing is the act of removing a condom during sexual intercourse without the other person’s knowledge or consent, or lying about using one.

Consent to sex with a condom is not consent to sex without one. When someone secretly removes a condom, they change the conditions of consent. This violates bodily autonomy and trust.

Stealthing can result in unwanted pregnancy, exposure to STIs (including HIV), and serious emotional trauma. Survivors may seek medical care, including PEP, within 72 hours and report the incident as sexual assault.

A preconceived or oversimplified generalization about an entire group of people without regard for their
individual differences. Though often negative, it can also be complimentary. Even positive stereotypes can have
a negative impact, however, simply because they involve broad generalizations that ignore individual realities
(Green and Peterson, 2006).

Refers to the physical and psychological harm that result from exploitative and unjust social, political and economic systems. Forms of structural violence operate globally against women, children, Indigenous peoples and those in poverty, and constitute human rights violations and significant social determinants of ill health. Structural violence is, however, often most pervasive because of its invisibility: embedded in ubiquitous social structures (and) normalized by stable institutions and regular experience…structural inequities usually seem ordinary

these are verbal evidence or documents given to anyone who is required to give evidence in court and
indicates the court dates.

A survivor is a person who has experienced violence, abuse, or trauma. Many people prefer the term “survivor” to “victim” because it recognises strength, resilience, and the ability to continue living after harm.

However, some individuals may still choose to use the term “victim,” especially in legal contexts. Every person has the right to choose the language that feels safest and most empowering.

Any individual can be a survivor of interpersonal violence regardless of age, race, economic status, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. “The term ‘survivor’ is preferred to victim as it reflects the reality that many abused individuals cope and move on with personal strength, resourcefulness, and determination.

Some individuals and organizations have also proposed using “experiencer” as a general term encompassing all individuals with lived experiences of violence. This term encompasses those who might also identify as survivors and those who may legally be defined as “victims.” It also recognizes those who identify with neither of these terms, and those that did not survive this experience.

Term that describes someone who has experienced interpersonal violence. This term can be preferred to victim as it reflects the reality that many individuals who experience abuse cope and move on with personal strength, and resourcefulness.

- A person who is directly affected by violence (The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, 1997). However, the
term "direct victim" refers to the direct recipients of violence, and the "indirect victim" refers to the person
affected by violence such as being affected by scenes of violence on TV or such as children affected by viewing
violence occurring between their parents.
- Other terms that are sometimes used instead of the survivor: victim, recipient of violence, to indicate the
different stages that can be experienced by a person who is subject to violence. However, the current practice
in scholarly literature and the recommendations of the principles for dealing with individuals subject to violence,
is the use of the word "survivor" when referring to the recipient of violence, regardless of the reaction of the
recipient, since the word victim suggests weakness, compassion and surrendering while the word "survivor"
suggests resilience and strength. Thus, the term "survivor" has positive connotations which helps the recipient
on one hand to increase his/her self-confidence and reminds the care provider not to deal with the recipient as
subordinate.

A survivor-centred approach is one that “prioritizes the rights, needs, and wishes of the survivor.” [1] According to this approach, it is the survivor’s right to:

“be treated with dignity and respect instead of being exposed to victim-blaming attitudes.
choose the course of action in dealing with the violence instead of feeling powerless.
privacy and confidentiality instead of exposure.
non-discrimination instead of discrimination based on gender, age, race/ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, HIV status or any other characteristic.
receive comprehensive information to help (them) make (their) own decision instead of being told what to do

The power of symbols to impose, devastate, attack, suppress, and distort ways of seeing, thinking, and talking.
Symbolic violence often can be more devastating than physical attack to the extent that it imposed and reinforces
social harms caused by class, gender, and other status differences, strengthens social barriers, and reinforces
culturally embedded domination games. It occurs through imposing a set of ideas, in an unclear manner on a
recessive social category and thus this category start, in a non-conscious way, to realize, understand and
monitor the social system that serves the dominant category, and serves to perpetuate the social structure that’s
preferred by the dominant category. The method used in the imposition of gender and discrimination on its basis
is considered one of the most prominent examples of symbolic violence (Bourdieu, 1991).