
Female Anti-Rape Condom - olliesaunders
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/20/2010-06-20_new_female_condom_with_teethlike_hooks_debuts_at_world_cup.html
======
jkahn
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.

------
gojomo
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.

~~~
mkramlich
Everything in _Snow Crash_ was better. :)

------
Dove
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.

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

~~~
Dove
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...](http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/article-
knabbenschiessen/pic1.jpg)

~~~
philwelch
There's a difference between teaching someone to handle a knife or shoot a
rifle accurately and teaching someone to kill.

Women and girls are not, by nature, killers. It's not politically correct to
say that but it's true.

~~~
puredemo
All humans are killers by nature. And at that age girls are taller and
stronger than the boys are.

~~~
scott_s
The research I've read disagrees with your statement:
[http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-
So...](http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-
Society/dp/0316330116)

------
stavrianos
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.

~~~
mkramlich
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.

~~~
GFischer
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""

------
jolie
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.

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

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

------
tbrownaw
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
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
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

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

~~~
teilo
That's a statement. Not a product.

------
philk
_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.

~~~
ars
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.

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

~~~
hiroprot
Snow Crash, anybody? :)

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

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

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

------
ibejoeb
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.

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

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

