Rape prevention devices

28.06.2011 | By: Z. J.

In Africa, women started inserting eccentric devices into the vagina to harm a man’s penis and, consequently, prevent rape.

Another expression of rape culture. (http://www.rapestop.net/)

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One in three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way, according to Amnesty International. In South Africa, every other woman is raped, according to a study. South Africans also try to stand up to that with eccentric devices.

Tampon with a blade

A several years ago, Jaap Haumann, retired health care worker, from South Africa invented a tampon that could protect women against rapists. It’s literally a medieval device that’s less friendly to women than the chastity belt. It’s designed as a tampon with a hard cylindrical plastic core which contains the spring blade triggered when pressure is exerted on it, that is, when penetration takes place. The blade performs a minor penectomy – by slicing off a part of a man’s penis.

Jaap Haumann came up with an idea for his invention when he saw the physical and psychological consequences suffered by raped women. In his country, a rape is being reported every 26 seconds to the police.

Razor-sharp barbs on the female condom

Another invention that provides protection to women is Rape-aXe. It was developed by a South African health care worker, Sonette Ehlers. She was inspired by lawsuit of a victim who said: “If only I had teeth down there!”

Rape-aXe looks like a condom with razor-sharp barbs and women wear it like a tampon. The barbs are designed to attach themselves to the rapist’s penis and can only be surgically removed. There’s therefore a double effect: protecting women by causing pain to the attacker and functioning as an aid in identifying the rapist, since doctors would soon realise what the “patient” with a barbed condom was doing and would report him to the police. The condom also prevents sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. Marvellous, isn’t it?

Objections to this type of devices

Many people object to such devices as being more vengeful than preventive. Jaap Haumann believes that a man’s awareness of the possibility that he could lose (a part) of his penis during a rape would make him think twice before committing it. However, the tampon-weapon device should be used on a mass scale in order to have any effect. At every moment, all women would have to be aware that they can become victims of rape and that they alone can help themselves. Another objection to this type of devices is that pain would infuriate the attacker even more and thus he would cause greater harm to the woman than normally (less with penetration). Sonette Ehlers argues for her barbed condom by saying that the rapist may also be infuriated by a different kind of resistance and that it can never be predicted how severe the outcome will be.

Rape culture shifts a societal problem onto the shoulders of a woman

The main objection is, of course, that the responsibility for rape is shifted onto a woman who, according to the logic of the inventors of these devices, would have to be constantly aware that she may be raped – although the rapist will only have half of his penis, she’ll feel the weapon in her vagina all the time and thus be aware of the fact that she’s at risk every minute of her life. Such inventions represent the pinnacle of rape culture because they normalise and justify this total crime (act that affects the body and mind and triggers the feelings of being threatened) by shifting all the responsibility onto victims.