http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/od_nm/safrica_rape_dc
Thu Sep 1,12:02 PM ET
A South African inventor unveiled a new anti-rape female condom on
Wednesday that hooks onto an attacker's penis and aims to cut one of
the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.
"Nothing has ever been done to help a woman so that she does not get
raped and I thought it was high time," Sonette Ehlers, 57, said of
the "rapex," a device worn like a tampon that has sparked controversy
in a country used to daily reports of violent crime.
Police statistics show more than 50,000 rapes are reported every
year, while experts say the real figure could be four times that as
they say most rapes of acquaintances or children are never reported.
Ehlers said the "rapex" hooks onto the rapist's skin, allowing the
victim time to escape and helping to identify perpetrators.
"He will obviously be too pre-occupied at this stage," she told
reporters in Kleinmond, a small holiday village about 100km (60
miles) east of Cape Town. "I promise you he is going to be too sore.
He will go straight to hospital."
The device, made of latex and held firm by shafts of sharp barbs, can
only be removed from the man through surgery which will alert
hospital staff, and ultimately, the police, she said.
It also reduces the chances of a woman falling pregnant or
contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases from the
attacker by acting in the same way as a female condom.
South Africa has more people with HIV/AIDS than any other country,
with one in nine of its 45 million population infected.
Ehlers, who showed off a prototype on Wednesday, said women had tried
it for comfort and it had been tested on a plastic male model but not
yet on a live man. Production was planned to start next year.
But the "rapex" has raised fears amongst anti-rape activists that it
could escalate violence against women.
"If a victim is wearing such a device it may enrage the attacker
further and possibly result in more harm being caused," said Sam
Waterhouse, advocacy coordinator for Rape Crisis.
Other critics say the condom is medieval and barbaric -- an
accusation Ehlers says should be directed rather at the act of rape.
"This is not about vengeance ... but the deed, that is what I hate,"
she said.
Thu Sep 1,12:02 PM ET
A South African inventor unveiled a new anti-rape female condom on
Wednesday that hooks onto an attacker's penis and aims to cut one of
the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.
"Nothing has ever been done to help a woman so that she does not get
raped and I thought it was high time," Sonette Ehlers, 57, said of
the "rapex," a device worn like a tampon that has sparked controversy
in a country used to daily reports of violent crime.
Police statistics show more than 50,000 rapes are reported every
year, while experts say the real figure could be four times that as
they say most rapes of acquaintances or children are never reported.
Ehlers said the "rapex" hooks onto the rapist's skin, allowing the
victim time to escape and helping to identify perpetrators.
"He will obviously be too pre-occupied at this stage," she told
reporters in Kleinmond, a small holiday village about 100km (60
miles) east of Cape Town. "I promise you he is going to be too sore.
He will go straight to hospital."
The device, made of latex and held firm by shafts of sharp barbs, can
only be removed from the man through surgery which will alert
hospital staff, and ultimately, the police, she said.
It also reduces the chances of a woman falling pregnant or
contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases from the
attacker by acting in the same way as a female condom.
South Africa has more people with HIV/AIDS than any other country,
with one in nine of its 45 million population infected.
Ehlers, who showed off a prototype on Wednesday, said women had tried
it for comfort and it had been tested on a plastic male model but not
yet on a live man. Production was planned to start next year.
But the "rapex" has raised fears amongst anti-rape activists that it
could escalate violence against women.
"If a victim is wearing such a device it may enrage the attacker
further and possibly result in more harm being caused," said Sam
Waterhouse, advocacy coordinator for Rape Crisis.
Other critics say the condom is medieval and barbaric -- an
accusation Ehlers says should be directed rather at the act of rape.
"This is not about vengeance ... but the deed, that is what I hate,"
she said.
A lot.
