One in four men in South Africa may have raped someone - with most of those attacking more than one victim, data from a new survey suggests.
The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time while in their teens.
It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.
The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.
The study found that 73% of respondents said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.
Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.
One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.
Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, told the BBC's World Today programme the findings were "very shocking".
"The absolute imperative is we have to change the underlying social attitudes that in a way have created a norm that coercing women into sex is on some level acceptable," she said.
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"We know that we have a higher prevalence of rape in South Africa than there is in other countries.
"And it's partly rooted in our incredibly disturbed past and the way that South African men over the centuries have been socialised into forms of masculinity that are predicated on the idea of being strong and tough and the use of force to assert dominance and control over women, as well as other men."
She said all the victims in the main survey were women, but the participants were also interviewed about male rape.
The survey found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.
Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.
South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country's rape epidemic.
Before his election as South Africa's president, self-proclaimed polygamist Jacob Zuma stood trial for the rape of an HIV-positive family friend. He was acquitted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8107039.stm
. this was on NPR this morning. There is a kid raped every 3 minutes in SA. Surprisingly, they also found majority of the men surveyed did not contract HIV/AIDS. Lakin what is wrong with these ppl????? Accudubilahi
