IN SOUTH AFRICA BY

“Corrective rape, ” an act characterized as a man raping a lesbian in an effort to turn her straight, is a growing problem in South Africa. Despite being hailed as the rainbow nation, South Africa has neglected to address incidents of discrimination and hate crimes perpetrated against lesbians. In this thesis, I use an intersectional frame to examine accounts of “corrective rape ” in 95 articles published between 2009 and 2013 in 13 different South African newspapers. I begin by tracing the production and construction of “corrective rape, ” in particular how the media discourse constructs the attacks and how it marginalizes the women who survive these attacks. Then, drawing from poststructural discourse analysis, I demonstrate how South African-ness is constituted around discourses of lesbianism and “corrective rape, ” in particular how the media discourse constructs how views on lesbians and “corrective rape ” are either antithetical to being truly South African or are key in establishing oneself a part of democratic South African culture. Finally, I offer some thoughts on the implications these findings have for the global discourse on lesbians. ii