Have you heard of the Rape-aXe anti-rape device?
According to their official website, the Rape-aXe is an anti-rape female condom embedded with shafts of sharp, inward-facing razor-sharp barbs invented by Sonnet Ehlers, a South African woman. If an attacker were to attempt vaginal rape, his penis would enter the latex sheath and be snagged by the barbs, causing the attacker excruciating pain during withdrawal and giving the victim time to escape. The condom would remain attached to the attacker’s body when he withdrew and could only be removed surgically, which would alert hospital staff and police. Like most condoms, Rape-aXe also usually prevents pregnancy and the transmission of HIV and sexually transmitted Infections.
Sonnet Ehlers the Rape-aXe’s inventor spent 40 years of her life developing this product after witnessing the horrors of what rape victims went through. In a recent CNN article it said that she even sold her house and car to launch the project, and she planned to distribute 30,000 free devices under supervision during the World Cup period. You have to commend someone who spends this much time and puts so much effort into trying to fix a problem that has existed since the beginning of time but does this product really help protect and empower women?
The first thing I thought when I read about how this device works was that there is still penetration therefore there is still a rape that occurs. To me this is not an anti-rape device since the attacker is still capable of penetrating his victim. When he goes for his next thrust the device catches his penis causing him horrible pain and hopefully allowing the victim time to get away from him. What if the victim doesn’t get away in time? What if she is being attacked by one or more assailants? In my head the outcome of these at the very least results in the victim catching one horrible disfiguring beat down. Let’s play Devil’s Advocate and say everything goes as designed…the victim wearing the device is attacked, rapist gets caught by the device recoiling in extreme pain, giving the victim enough time to get to safety away from her attacker, the device can’t be removed by the attacker so he has to seek medical help to remove it and is then arrested for rape…wait this leads me to more questions.
First, when as a woman should I be wearing it? I’m home alone without a man in the house more often than not at night, should I wear this to bed in case a rapist breaks in? Should I wear it when I go clubbing, bar hopping or to a party? How about when I go on a date should I wear it then if I don’t know the guy that well yet? Maybe I should wear it when I go jogging the trails on Mt. Diablo, you never know a man could grab and try to rape me. I should probably also wear one when I go shopping alone late at night, you just never know. I’m not trying to be funny here but these are all circumstances that women have been grabbed and raped. At least they are all situations that since I can remember we as women have been told to watch out for. Don’t go jogging alone early in the morning or late at night. Don’t park next to a van because a man could be waiting in it to grab you. Don’t wear clothing that can be easily ripped or torn off because rapists target women who do. This device and all the anti-rape precautionary advice all is directed at causing us women to live a life of fear. None of this empowers us. It sure doesn’t make us women feel like the beautiful queens who through our wombs create life and that with our hearts nurture it.
As soon as little girls start looking like women by developing breasts, getting pronounced curves and menstruating they are bombarded with imagery of fear. Our mothers, teachers and female elders tell us what to watch out for and what not to do to make ourselves victims. As little girls grow into women they are conditioned into believing that basically it is pretty much always their fault as women for attracting the attackers or because they were doing something they had no business doing. So, bitches since you aren’t going to lock yourselves up at home and you will be too sexy to avoid rape then here you go put this female condom in your pussy just in case! That solves everything including how you’ll feel after you are attacked and the Rape-aXe sets you free from your attacker?!?
While the device would hopefully set the woman physically free from her attacker it does absolutely nothing to deal with the emotional pain and shame of rape. I haven’t been raped but the women who I have known who have been live with what happened to them for years. Many can’t easily trust men again. Others find it hard to become intimate with men. While some live in constant fear of the world around them. Since women who “protect” themselves with this device are still raped they would still have all the same issues that women who are raped without this device have to deal with. Maybe the woman wearing the Rape-aXe got away quicker but she didn’t get away without an emotional scar. Does she get satisfaction from having injured her attacker or better yet does she get to have justice from having left him with a bite that identifies him?
This device is billed as something that can be used to identify the attacker and aid in the apprehension of the perpetrator. Yes, I can see a rapist ending up in the Emergency Room with this device on his penis crying and pleading to have it removed but how can it lead to arrest and prosecution? If there isn’t a woman who comes forward to file charges against the attacker can the authorities prosecute him? Rape perpetuates shame causing many women to never report the crime. I don’t think that this device would help women who have been victimized come out to identify their attacker. Instead, I think many women would retreat even more out of fear of retribution from the attacker. I think this device would cause even more women to suffer in silence and fear post rape. This device doesn’t seem to be a fix for us women at all it seems like another way to set all blame and responsibility for rape prevention on women. All this device does is give teeth to the myth of vagina dentata!
Do I think this device could help some women? Yes. In places like South Africa (which is where it is being marketed and where it was invented) rape is prevalent and women there are already living in fear this device might help women there feel like they have a way to strike back. It would protect those women from HIV and unwanted pregnancies that come from rape. Does it help them feel valued and worthy? No. Does it keep their minds controlled by fear? Yes! Will this device help reduce the number of rapes in a place so prevalent for them like South Africa? I think that for awhile it might until the rapists learn to check for the devices or they change their mode of rape. I can see men detecting the Rape-aXe, beating the women and still raping them. I can also see the number of rape by sodomy cases rising. What I see is that this device is nothing more than a short-term fix for a problem that requires a lasting solution.
So, how do we solve the real problem? Is there a real way to prevent rape? Are we women condemned to live in fear and shame because our vaginas make us the target of sick men? If women that become victims of rape start off as little menstruating girls then sick men who become rapists must start off as little boys with erections. It might be time to focus on the latter group more because there is truly no advice or device that can prevent a woman from being raped since rape is a choice that a man makes.
Have your say what do you think about the Rape-aXe device? How as a society do we solve the problem of rape? Is there even a starting place for us to meet and move forward from together? I’d love to hear the thoughts of both men and women on this one.
