Shafts for His Shaft (Or, How To Stick It To A Rapist 101)

…So, I was reading the newspapers a while back, and an article caused me to raise my eyebrow right up into my hairline.

A South African inventor named Sonette Ehlers unveiled an anti-rape condom. It apparently works by acting as a female condom with shafts that impale and hook into the rapist’s penis, thereby rendering him unable to continue his ‘conquest’. (click the link above to see it for yourself.)

 At first I laughed with glee – the idea that any man who attempted to commit such a violent act against a woman, would be in for a nasty surprise. The article claims that these shafts/barbs can only be removed by a surgical procedure. This means that the rapist would have to give himself away to medical staff, who would of course be alerted to call the police by the appearance of a wilted, porcupine-like phallus attached to a very sorry and agonized attacker.

Apparently, all one has to do is insert this female condom prior to going out (let’s say, in an unsafe area, or on a date with someone you don’t know too well, etc…). And then…

…Wait.

Wait for some poor ignoramus to put god out of his thoughts and lay his hands on you. 

Now, this device supposedly does not cause the female wearer any more discomfort than say, a tampon would. But that is honestly the least of my concerns.

Questions began creeping up in my mind about Rapex’s actual effectiveness and repercussions in a real-life scenario…

1. How does one determine which scenarios signal a moment that the woman should put this condom on? Should she put it on to go to the store? When walking to her car in a lonely parking lot? When going for a morning jog? Some folks may think I’m being ridiculous, but let’s be real. The only way to take advantage of the type of protection Rapex offers is to have the condom on all the time and, as I said before… wait. 

2.  A secondary, but still important, issue comes  from the one above. If this device needs to be worn all the time to afford maximum protection – won’t that get expensive? does this means that women of lesser financial means will not be able to have the same level of protection as those who have the income to afford constantly buying and replacing it?

3.  Suppose the rapist is carrying a weapon??? Won’t this sudden ’surprise’ serve to infuriate an already aggresive man – and trigger him to use his weapon on the victim?

4. Rapex does not do anything to actually prevent rape. As far as I know, the act of rape is committed once there is any sort of penetration (I could be wrong. feel free to give me your views on that definition). The penis still needs to enter before it is actually ensnared. Therefore, the psychological damage rendered, remains the same.

5. I don’t think that Rapex will serve as any sort of deterrent to potential rapists. Rape isn’t really about sex. It’s more about power. Any man that could actually be so heartless as to rape a woman, will certainly turn to other methods of control – if he’s afraid of getting his pecker skewed.

6. …then there is the whole idea of putting the onus on the woman to control a man’s uncontrolable desires. Hmmm…

But all in all, despite the questions that I have about the device – I still say kudos to Sonette Ehlers for putting much thought into a product that just may save someone from AIDS, STDs, unwanted pregnancy, even if the chances of having it on at the ‘right’ moment may be slim, and even though it may not do much about the psychological pain the victim will still go through.

I know that I could not possibly think of all of the issues this invention raises. What do you think???

.

Incog’ out…