In what seems like another life, I was a medical student in the mid-80s. The New Romantic movement had only just begun its steep decline, along with my spiked-up straw-dyed hair. Around then, one of my clinical tutors died from Aids. Fellow students whispered that he was gay and "promiscuous". So then, otherwise caring people were implying that he deserved to die from HIV.

Many lesbians in South Africa are living in fear as rape and murder become a daily threat to them.A silent epidemic known as 'corrective rape' is sweeping the country, where the victims are being brushed aside as society frowns upon them and their lifestyle. Men rape lesbians in what they see as an attempt to 'correct' their sexual orientation.