Clique aqui para descarregar a brochura em PDF. This is the first of a series of articles on the results of a small research project on child rape in Maputo [1 ]. We shall begin by discussing some of the conceptual issues that we feel can contribute to a reflection on the child rape dimension of sexual violence, namely, ambiguity in the sexual abuse concept and its classification. We shall try to show that, given its ambivalence, the notion of sexual abuse used by many authors is not suitable for an analysis of sexual violence against children.
The literature on child rape in Mozambique β covering the relationship between age, penalties, intra- and inter-institutional articulation β is either scattered in partial texts that assess application of the law and institutional mechanisms or the texts are too comprehensive for a discussion of the various dimensions of rape. Studies that discuss the concepts used are rare, and those that analyse the interference of cultural representations in institutional practices even more so.
In addition to Mozambican literature on the subject a number of studies in the region and in the world will also be analysed. In her research on violence and the sexual abuse of children, Brigitte Bagnol tries to reflect on the relationship between violence and sexual abuse, presenting how the law differentiates between the two concepts Bagnol, However, the content of the two concepts and how they differ is unclear.
Bagnol, We feel, however, as do several of the authors quoted in this paper, that sexual abuse covers a variety of different manifestations of violence against children , leading to an interpretation by differentiating between abuse and rape that dilutes the violent nature of abuse itself and, even more, that conceals the structure of social relations where power lies at the core.
Nevertheless, in the gender violence context what occurs in a forced union between a child and an adult is a form of sexual violence. Bagnol goes on to describe the variables that determine and affect condemnation of sexual abuse, identifying payment of a fine or marriage as a way of cancelling out the crime. Another study by Collet on sexual violence in Tete province, quotes a respondent expressing a similar view:. Dropping out of school, in the case of girls in particular, can be a sign of sexual violence practices there, such as harassment and rape, that can also reflect more subtle forms of violence within the family manifested in the division of labour in the home, and ritualization silent or otherwise to conform to subordinate roles.
