By Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg A SOUTH African rancher has enraged local community leaders by planning to stage a motorcycle rally in which bikers will be invited to hunt down prostitutes with paintball guns. The "sex safari" is the idea of Johan Maree, 49, who has invited 5,000 bikers for a long weekend of "enlightened fun" on his 3,000-acre game farm near the town of Ellisras, Northern Province. Bikers will pay 300 rand (£30) for three colour-coded pellets of paint which they can use to "hunt the whores" - prostitutes hired to run through the bush amid herds of impala, kudu and zebra. A "handful" of male prostitutes will also take part for the amusement of female bikers. The human "game" will be paid about £20 per hour each, irrespective of whether they are "caught" - splattered with paint. Mr Maree dismissed critics of his plan as "people living in an outdated hypocritical age". Revellers would enjoy an "unusual weekend in the wild". What happened between hunters and hunted would be "entirely up to consenting, fun-loving adults". But the Rev Theo van Blerk, head of the local Dutch Reformed Church, called the idea "disgusting and shameful". He and other church and community leaders were holding an emergency meeting to try to halt the event. "This is an open attack on the traditional Christian lifestyle we still cherish in this area," said Mr van Blerk. "This is a God-fearing town and we are determined to keep it that way." The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals complained that wildlife on Mr Maree's land would be "traumatised by the bedlam". But 19-year-old Lindy, one of the sex workers who has volunteered to take part, said: "The fee is low, but it's an adventure and at least I should lose a bit of weight." |
In short, my kind of party. The imagery is really really evil, but, as long as no one is actually hurt, it sounds like fun for all concerned. And, apparently, the sex workers were not paid obscene amounts, which would have put them in a position in which they could not afford to say no. So it sounds like the ones they got were people who thought the idea was kind of cool. Oh, and fuck the priest, but that's self-evident. |