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. 2024 Jul 5;19(7):e0304240. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304240
Theme 2. Forcing a girl to sleep with her is rape: Sexual violence from peers, family and community members
Sub-theme Strength of evidence Illustrative examples (first order constructs)
First order constructs Second order constructs
Sexual harassment, coercion and forced sex by peers Strong: [4, 6, 1014] Strong: [46, 914] If one boy loves any girl, he pleases them [referring to insisting on having sex]. He really really pleases them. So she can’t stop him (Adolescent girl, Ethiopia) [13]
Supporting: Supporting: [8, 17, 20222] I was in class copying notes and a boy came up, like they always do, and touched me on my breasts— something which did not make me feel good (17-year-old girl, Uganda) [6]
[5, 9, 17, 18, 2022, 25]
Together they determine a plan to ‘teach that arrogant girl a lesson’ […] Bayo and his friends ambush and overpower her […] Bayo informs her that he would not have raped her if she had complied with his request for sex (Female adolescents, Nigeria) [10]
Boy 1: If the girl doesn’t want to, I would watch porn with her. I can touch her all over her body
Boy 2: I would make her drink ‘silver bullet’ [a branded, locally-available sexual performance aid]
Boy 3: I can drug her, because I don’t have any other way
Boy 4: That’s rape dude
(Male adolescents, South Africa) [9]
‘[Girls] see women on TV with short skirts and so in Tanzania the girls try to copy, so they are raped’ (Adolescent boy, Tanzania) [26]
Forced sex and harassment by (older) males and community members Strong: [6, 25] Strong: [6, 25] I was sent to the market […] and on my way back, I met two boys [they] carried me by force to the bush and started raping me. When I heard people passing, I shouted loudly at once. They came and rescued me. I reported to my father […] These boys were arrested very early in the morning of the following day. They are now in jail (15-year-old girl, Uganda) [25]
   
p>Supporting: [2, 4, 10, 11, 26, 29] Supporting: [2, 4, 5, 11, 14, 19, 20, 29]
   
Sexual violence within families Strong: [25] Strong: [10, 25] I didn’t want [my stepfather] to sleep with me again, so I drank a [small] bottle of ‘parazone’ [bleach]. I wanted him to see that I hated what he was doing to me […] (18-year-old girl, Ghana) [18]
Supporting: [5, 6, 10, 11, 18, 28] Supporting: [5, 6, 288] I share a house with a boy (12 years) who is related to my stepfather […] he used force and had sexual intercourse with me. I reported him to my mother and there was a family gathering […] He was reported to police but the case was handled at family level since there was a need to cleanse the curse (7-year-old girl, Uganda) [25]
Exchanging gifts and basic needs for sex Strong: [4, 6, 8, 11, 24, 25, 27, 29] Strong: [2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 24, 25, 27, 29] He used to tell me “I love you and I will give you money.” [I had my first sex with him] because I wanted snacks very much (17-year-old girl, Uganda) [6]
     
Supporting: [2, 7, 10, 20, 22] Supporting: [5, 7, 20, 21] The girl has no right to say ‘no’ to sex in the house of the sugar daddy (Adolescent girls, South Africa) [8]
     
    We often experience rape cases here […] you find a married man who is 40 years old perpetrates rape because he has got money. When he meets a girl in the community who is flourishing [...] she is going to love him because of money (18-year-old boy, DRC) [4]
     
    Girl 1: And it’s degrading. Like for us it would be degrading, degrading, degrading
    Girl 2: It’s impossible to have a ‘normal relationship’ with taxi drivers, it’s always about sex and drugs, they only buy you a drink to overpower her to have sex with her (Adolescent girls, South Africa) [24]