Female Anti-Rape Condom

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/20/2010-06-20_new_female_condom_with_teethlike_hooks_debuts_at_world_cup.html

by olliesaunders • 16 years ago

29 34 16 years ago

nydailynews.com

tbrownaw• 16 years ago

I've been occasionally hearing about the invention (but never use) of this for a while now.

"It not only presents the victim with a false sense of security, but psychological trauma," said Victoria Kajja, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Uganda.

But Ehlers said that she had taken the proper research and development steps before launching the product.

"I consulted engineers, gynecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe," she said.

Well, yeah, but that's not what that particular criticism was about.

Ehlers also pointed out how women take extreme measures such as placing razor blades in their nether regions to prevent rape in South Africa.

...that's pretty bad. I wonder if it actually helps any?

evilduck• 16 years ago

In the AIDS capital of the world, using razor blades and causing someone to bleed all over your genitals seems like the exact opposite of what you'd want to do.

nkassis• 16 years ago

Could this device also cause bleeding? Or has it been shown to not do so?

Sounds like a valid question the woman using this should no. I could increase the likelihood of infection

stavrianos• 16 years ago

this looks to me like one of those security things that can only work because it isn't used widely. Won't a carrot defeat this? If adoption becomes widespread, the trick will be known and therefore useless.

ars2• 16 years ago

Yah, it will only work the first time, after that attackers will simply check first.

This is also likely to enrage the attacker to the point where he kills his victim.

And walking around with plastic all day is likely to cause infections.

adammichaelc• 16 years ago

They may be enraged, but according to the article won't be able to walk, and therefore the victim would have a chance to escape.

Regarding infections, women walk around all the time with tampons/birth-contol devices, etc. in and infections are not a concern for most as far as I know.

Though I do agree that if it became widespread an attacker would simply check first.

mkramlich2• 16 years ago

I'm now imagining a future breed of sophisticated would-be rapists: men who bring roofies with them on a date AND a carrot. Just in case.

GFischer2• 16 years ago

Didn't know there was slang for that, had to look it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_rape_drug

"flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol or "roofies""

huhtenberg• 16 years ago

Earlier and more scary take on the same idea by Swedes - http://www.femdefence.info/index2.html

teilo• 16 years ago

That's a statement. Not a product.

gojomo• 16 years ago

The version in Snow Crash was better: it delivered a injection of total anesthesia, allowing safe escape for the victim and apprehension of the offender.

This risks getting the victim killed. It also may find its largest audience not among women freely choosing it for self-defense, but traditional fathers in some cultures forcing it on their daughters -- the same men who sometimes 'honor kill' their daughters or nieces who've had premarital sex, whether that sex was consensual or rape.

mkramlich2• 16 years ago

Everything in Snow Crash was better. :)

jkahn• 16 years ago

I can't see this taking off. But rape in South Africa is very, very bad. It goes hand in hand with AIDS. Anything that would help is worth it.

Many of the people that are infected by AIDS go to their witch doctors to seek a cure. There is a legend, started by the witch doctors, that if you have sex with a virgin, you will be cured. These virgins usually aren't willing, and so are raped. And then the original AIDS infected man is still infected, so figures that the victim mustn't have been a virgin and looks for someone younger. And so the vicious cycle of rape and AIDS continues.

Hopefully these things help some girls. Although instead of catching AIDS, they might just get killed by the rapist instead. It is a horrible, violent world in South Africa (and sadly - one of the most beautiful countries in the world, too).

BTW - My wife is South African and got out almost 15 years ago. She still has extended family there.

hc• 16 years ago

penis mutilation isnt really the sort of 'hacking' i come to this site to read about

jolie• 16 years ago

Does anyone but me care that you have to get penetrated before the damn thing works?

Gah. Ass-backwards. Even if the condom is effective, technically and in all other ways, you still get raped.

puredemo3• 16 years ago

You still get raped, but only for a moment, instead of potentially for hours.

GFischer2• 16 years ago

The psychological trauma will probably still be the same regardless of the actual time.

Dove2• 16 years ago

Arming women and teaching them to forcefully defend themselves significantly reduces the incidence of rape.

  Women are often advised to use non-aggressive
  strategies against sexual assault[3]. Research
  suggests that this is a poor advice.According to one
  study, women who used non-forceful verbal
  strategies, e.g, crying or pleading with the assailant
  were raped about 96% of the time[4].

  Forceful verbal resistance, including loud screaming
  was more effective than non-forceful verbal
  resistance. These strategies were associated with
  completion of rape from 44%-50% of the time[5].

  Running works even better than verbal resistance.
  Researches indicate that only 15% of women who
  attempted to flee were raped[6].

  Forceful physical resistance is an extremely
  successful strategy. The completed rape dropped to
  14% when the rapist’s attempt was met with violent
  physical force. Striking was more successful than
  pushing or wrestling. Physical resistance also
  appeared to be more effective when assault occured
  outdoor[5].

  Women who used knives or guns in self-defence
  were raped less than 1% of the time. Defensive use
  of edged or projectile weapons reduced the rate of
  injury to statistical insignificance[7].

http://medind.nic.in/jal/t07/i4/jalt07i4p99.pdf *

Whether this particular strategy will be effective or not, I don't know. But I can easily imagine the class of rapists who give up when the woman merely yells at them might decide they really don't want to deal with this.

Naively, if I wanted to reduce the incidence of rape, I'd make switchblades standard issue for young girls and tell them to seriously attempt to do maximum damage when threatened.

Though it might work differently in South Africa.

*I had read this before, but had to google for the paper. It looks good to me, but I cannot vouch for its reliability.

philwelch3• 16 years ago

Armed self-defense is a great idea for grown women. I'm not sure about little girls.

Dove2• 16 years ago

Children can be taught to handle weapons. In Somalia, boys as young as 9 serve in militias and handle automatic rifles. That's abusive and wrong of course, but they're evidently responsible enough with them to be useful to somebody. And in Switzerland, children routinely take part in shooting competitions at 13.

And of course, kids handle kitchen knives and pocket knives from a very young age. It depends on the household, but six or eight isn't unusual; it can be as young as three in some cultures.

Even in this culture, early elementary school kids are taught serious things like when to dial 911 and when not to. Learning when to use a weapon isn't that much harder.

If rape is a serious problem, arm the dang girls. Or at a minimum teach them to fight and run.

http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/article-knabbenschiessen/pic1...

siculars• 16 years ago

Vagina dentata, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata, a la Teeth, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780622/. Enjoy :)

hiroprot• 16 years ago

Snow Crash, anybody? :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash#Dentata

philk• 16 years ago

Rape-axe is inserted like a tampon and when embedded to a man the device can only be removed by a doctor.

I don't buy this at all. Doctor's aren't going to have some super secret method of Rape-axe removal, they're just going to cut the device off carefully.

ars2• 16 years ago

Cut the end off of it, slit it lengthwise, then pull it off in the same direction as the hooks.

And I have a feeling they are significantly exaggerating the pain level. I wonder if they tested it on an actual person.

ibejoeb2• 16 years ago

From the looks of it, this will shred the inserted penis and likely cause bleeding directly into the body of the victim. As traumatic as rape is, this seems like guaranteed infection, whereas not wearing the device should give the victim at least a few seconds to attempt to fend off the attacker.

puredemo3• 16 years ago

I don't think you've thought this through very well.

ibejoeb2• 16 years ago

I guess so. I must be missing how this thing works.

cianestro• 16 years ago

A woman could hack a vuvuzela instead or blow one (the horn).

Female Anti-Rape Condom

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