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*TRIGGER WARNING: The following material might be sensitive for victims of sexual abuse and/or rape.
It is not entirely uncommon for educational institutions to be insensitive with regards to sexual issues but sex education in South Africa is really shoddy.
Government-supplied material for Life Orientation often perpetuates gender stereotyping and sexism, and the rhetoric in some classrooms cultivates rape culture by endorsing rape myths.
But, the examiners who set this year’s NSC Dramatic Arts exam have outdone themselves. The paper, which was written yesterday, required candidates to describe how they would direct a person mimicking rape.
In a compulsory section, candidates have to answer questions on an unseen extract from the powerful South African play Tshepang – inspired by the rape of a 9-month-old baby by Lara Foot Newton.
This particular extract involves the central character, Simon, acting out the rape of a baby using a loaf of bread and a broomstick:
SIMON: She had known all along.
She was too scared to tell them because she was his houvrou.
Now the town was talking! Why had she kept it a secret? Why had she not said anything?
Alfred was drunk. He wanted sex. Ruth wanted to drink and wasn't interested. She left her baby on the bed and went to the tavern.
Ruth puts the loaf of bread on the small bed.
Soon it got dark. The sun went down.
He acts out the rape, using the broomstick and the loaf of bread.
Later Sarah, the one with the gold tooth, came to the house to look for Ruth. She walked in, heard Siesie screaming, and lit a match.
Alfred stopped for a moment. Sarah looked at him, at the baby, left the room ... and did nothing. Then Alfred continued. Later he dumped her body in the veld ... where Dewaal found her.
One of the questions on the extract reads as follows:
“Describe how you would get the actor portraying Simon to perform this act to maximize the horror of the rape to the audience.”
Many South Africans have been, and continue to be, sexually harassed and/or raped. It is common for a victim of such trauma to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Flashbacks of the experience of rape or harassment can be ‘triggered’ by a number of different things – survivors might be triggered by something as seemingly subtle as words, songs or smells they associate with the experience, or as obvious as the sight of the perpetrator or descriptions of rape and harassment.
Because of a growing awareness of harassment and rape-related PTSD, videos, images and written material describing rape are often shared with a ‘trigger warning’ – a caution that the subject matter might trigger PTSD.
To spring an unseen description of rape at a group of young adults – of whom some are bound to be survivors of rape and sexual harassment – seems at best, ignorant, and at worst, cruel.
My problem is not with the play itself, nor is it with matric learners studying it as such. It is indeed a powerful play which handles brutal, terrifying subject matter with sensitivity. My problem with the paper is that this play was unseen.
If it were studied and discussed in class, one might have time to mentally prepare oneself before they had to read this scene.
The feelings that may result from studying or reading the play can be dealt with if a student is reading it on their own or in class, because they’ll be more free to express their emotions at the time and seek support if they need it.
They cannot easily deal with the stress and trauma they may encounter when under pressure to complete a final exam.
The question also requires the candidates not only to comment on the extract, but to actually describe someone mimicking a brutal rape with a loaf of bread and a broomstick.
As the question is compulsory there is no way that Dramatic Arts students could avoid describing the rape scene – if they were to leave the question out, it would affect their mark and possibly their acceptance into universities and such.
A great deal of these students were, as could be expected, rather upset by the subject matter. Some of the drama students I spoke to regarding the question had, indeed, been raped, but many who hadn’t been raped also found the question repulsive.
One of the students, a rape survivor, said the following: “I basically had to describe the rape of a 9-month-old baby. I couldn’t do that without thinking about my own rape. I couldn’t do that without experiencing those flashbacks… ”
She added that she couldn’t envisage the described scene without seeing her rapist hanging over her. I understand. To ask any rape survivor to describe rape in a way that will “maximize the horror of the rape to the audience” is basically to ask them to tap into their own experience of rape.
Some survivors might find working on such a play healing, but forcing rape survivors who are not ready or willing to deal with their experience (or the experience of the baby) in such a way is absolutely horrific.
When used in the right context, the study of plays such as Tshepang can be educational, moving, and even healing. But when used badly, it can hurt the survivors we as a society should be trying to protect.
It is horrific and unethical – for the needs of rape survivors to be ignored at such an institutional level, especially when the institution in question is instrumental in the education of young adults.
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It is not entirely uncommon for educational institutions to be insensitive with regards to sexual issues but sex education in South Africa is really shoddy.
Government-supplied material for Life Orientation often perpetuates gender stereotyping and sexism, and the rhetoric in some classrooms cultivates rape culture by endorsing rape myths.
But, the examiners who set this year’s NSC Dramatic Arts exam have outdone themselves. The paper, which was written yesterday, required candidates to describe how they would direct a person mimicking rape.
In a compulsory section, candidates have to answer questions on an unseen extract from the powerful South African play Tshepang – inspired by the rape of a 9-month-old baby by Lara Foot Newton.
This particular extract involves the central character, Simon, acting out the rape of a baby using a loaf of bread and a broomstick:
SIMON: She had known all along.
She was too scared to tell them because she was his houvrou.
Now the town was talking! Why had she kept it a secret? Why had she not said anything?
Alfred was drunk. He wanted sex. Ruth wanted to drink and wasn't interested. She left her baby on the bed and went to the tavern.
Ruth puts the loaf of bread on the small bed.
Soon it got dark. The sun went down.
He acts out the rape, using the broomstick and the loaf of bread.
Later Sarah, the one with the gold tooth, came to the house to look for Ruth. She walked in, heard Siesie screaming, and lit a match.
Alfred stopped for a moment. Sarah looked at him, at the baby, left the room ... and did nothing. Then Alfred continued. Later he dumped her body in the veld ... where Dewaal found her.
One of the questions on the extract reads as follows:
“Describe how you would get the actor portraying Simon to perform this act to maximize the horror of the rape to the audience.”
Many South Africans have been, and continue to be, sexually harassed and/or raped. It is common for a victim of such trauma to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Flashbacks of the experience of rape or harassment can be ‘triggered’ by a number of different things – survivors might be triggered by something as seemingly subtle as words, songs or smells they associate with the experience, or as obvious as the sight of the perpetrator or descriptions of rape and harassment.
Because of a growing awareness of harassment and rape-related PTSD, videos, images and written material describing rape are often shared with a ‘trigger warning’ – a caution that the subject matter might trigger PTSD.
To spring an unseen description of rape at a group of young adults – of whom some are bound to be survivors of rape and sexual harassment – seems at best, ignorant, and at worst, cruel.
My problem is not with the play itself, nor is it with matric learners studying it as such. It is indeed a powerful play which handles brutal, terrifying subject matter with sensitivity. My problem with the paper is that this play was unseen.
If it were studied and discussed in class, one might have time to mentally prepare oneself before they had to read this scene.
The feelings that may result from studying or reading the play can be dealt with if a student is reading it on their own or in class, because they’ll be more free to express their emotions at the time and seek support if they need it.
They cannot easily deal with the stress and trauma they may encounter when under pressure to complete a final exam.
The question also requires the candidates not only to comment on the extract, but to actually describe someone mimicking a brutal rape with a loaf of bread and a broomstick.
As the question is compulsory there is no way that Dramatic Arts students could avoid describing the rape scene – if they were to leave the question out, it would affect their mark and possibly their acceptance into universities and such.
A great deal of these students were, as could be expected, rather upset by the subject matter. Some of the drama students I spoke to regarding the question had, indeed, been raped, but many who hadn’t been raped also found the question repulsive.
One of the students, a rape survivor, said the following: “I basically had to describe the rape of a 9-month-old baby. I couldn’t do that without thinking about my own rape. I couldn’t do that without experiencing those flashbacks… ”
She added that she couldn’t envisage the described scene without seeing her rapist hanging over her. I understand. To ask any rape survivor to describe rape in a way that will “maximize the horror of the rape to the audience” is basically to ask them to tap into their own experience of rape.
Some survivors might find working on such a play healing, but forcing rape survivors who are not ready or willing to deal with their experience (or the experience of the baby) in such a way is absolutely horrific.
When used in the right context, the study of plays such as Tshepang can be educational, moving, and even healing. But when used badly, it can hurt the survivors we as a society should be trying to protect.
It is horrific and unethical – for the needs of rape survivors to be ignored at such an institutional level, especially when the institution in question is instrumental in the education of young adults.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
