All eyes may be on South Africa during the World Cup for the soccer but there are some terrible things that go on in the land of the Fifa World Cup. South Africa has horrifically high crime rates, astonishing number of AIDS patients and according to Time Magazine a recent study showed “…a deeply rooted culture of violence against women, in which men rape in order to feel powerful, and do so with impunity, believing that their superiority entitles them to vent their frustrations on women and children. The men most likely to rape, the researchers found, were not the poorest, but those who had attained some level of education”
This same study, undertaken by South African Medical Research Council, concluded that 1 in 4 men admit to having raped. 46% of these men admit to having raped more than once.
And that’s just the men who ADMITTED it.
It is with that in mind that I was fascinated to read this article sent to me today by Kerri Sackville who saw it on CNN:
South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers was on call one night four decades ago when a devastated rape victim walked in. Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse.
“She looked at me and said, ‘If only had teeth down there,'” recalled Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time. “I promised her I’d do something to help people like her one day.”
Forty years later, Rape-aXe was born. Ehlers is distributing the female condoms in the various South African cities where the World Cup soccer games are taking place.
The woman inserts the latex condom like a tampon. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line its inside and attach on a man’s penis during penetration, Ehlers said.
Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it — a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest. “It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it’s on,” she said. “If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter… however, it doesn’t break the skin, and there’s no danger of fluid exposure.”
Ehlers said she 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. “I consulted engineers, gynecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe,” she said.
Rape-aXe
After the trial period, they’ll be available for about $2 a piece. She hopes the women will report back to her.
The mother of two daughters said she visited prisons and talked to convicted rapists to find out whether such a device would have made them rethink their actions.
Some said it would have, Ehlers said.
Critics say the female condom is not a long-term solution and makes women vulnerable to more violence from men trapped by the device.
It’s also a form of “enslavement,” said Victoria Kajja, a fellow for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the east African country of Uganda. “The fears surrounding the victim, the act of wearing the condom in anticipation of being assaulted all represent enslavement that no woman should be subjected to.”
Women take drastic measures to prevent rape in South Africa, Ehlers said, with some wearing extra tight biker shorts and others inserting razor blades in their private parts.
An eye for an eye? What do you think of the implications of such a form of self defence?
Important – if this post or any of the comments bring up any issues for you, or if you need to speak to someone please call the NSW Rape Crisis Centre on 1800 424 017. It does not matter where about you live in Australia, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.
Top Comments
Sadly, this device wont work. As well as for all the reasons already stated, this device assumes that rape is logical or rational. Any man, or woman (but thats a different topic), that has the capacity to commit rape, and im not talking physically, because sadly nature has given men in general the unfair advantage there, but mental ability or deformity, to allow themselves to commit such an act, then a device that like this will simply cause then to lash and rage out. Ive worked as a nurse for 6 years now, and have had far too many rape victims come through my hospital, and hearing the stories of the ones who fought back. Rape is never acceptable. And I firmly believe in taking any apist and setting them into a room full of ham fisted prison mates, followed by a room fool of women with battons and scissors, followed by a shotgun to the head, but sadly this device will only cause sexual assault to become sexual homicide.
I think women need to protect themselves and this is one way to do it.
Sure, its not perfect, but neither are any of the other options. if you try to defend yourself physically, the attacker may get more violent. If you scream for help, same deal. So I don't think that argument is really all that valid.
You can't say, "Oh but men shouldn't rape us in the first place" -- if we lived in an ideal world, yes, but unfotunately we don't. And that is why we have devices like this. Yes, obviously, our world needs to change what we are teaching our boys, but that won't happen overnight. Rapes? They happen every night. And every day.