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Rapex

byChristina Warner

The rape statistics in South Africa have reached epidemic proportions calling for drastic measures.

Based on a Native American myth of the vagina dentata, it seems that the rape stats are about the bite back – literally.

Rape statistics show that over 50,000 rapes were reported in Cape Town between 2002 and 2003. Estimating that a woman is raped every 26 seconds and a child every 15 minutes with women’s organisations in South Africa saying that this is only a percentage of the real statistic as many women fear reprisal and are too frightened to come forward.

The Rapex prototype was launched on 31 August 2005, at Kleinmond, Cape Province, South Africa. Invented by Sonette Ehlers, who has worked with victims of rape for over 20 years, the Rapex, or the anti-rape female condom, is intended to prevent rape by hooking microscopic barbs onto the attacker’s penis, disabling him. Having been described as “more painful than a kick to the groin”, it will allow the victim to escape. The Rapex will also protect the victim from STI’s and pregnancy. Ehlers claims that her intensive work with rape victims triggered the inspiration behind the device: “a young victim said to me, "If only I had teeth down there!"

Once bitten…

Apart from the device’s disabling capabilities it is intended to work also as a deterrent as the assailant will have to seek professional medical assistance in order to remove the device. It cannot be cut away nor pulled off; so hospitals in South Africa are already well aware of the design and propose to work together with the police force by contacting them as soon as a patient enters with symptoms. Based on the design of a conventional condom but the latex cannot be removed easily and the hooks embed themselves under skin meaning that medical aid will be inevitable for the culprit.

Rapex will also act as a powerful tool in the court room as well as in the fight against rape. The women’s use of the device would be clear evidence that at some point she feared rape and will act as incriminating evidence against the attacker.

Biting off more than they can chew

Sadly, one of the main factors behind such an invention as the Rapex condom is the attitude which triggered its creation in the first place:

“South African society's response to rape is far from consistent, betraying a deep ambivalence on the subject. One set of responses expresses outrage, shock, horror and condemnation- while another set uncritically takes the side of the accused. Some people claiming that women provoke rape through their behaviour and dress, or, alternatively, by making false accusations against men. This kind of thinking is part of the problem as it enhances the misleading myths and stereotypes around rape.”

Possessing the world’s worst sexual assault figures, the Rapex has been met with great acclaim in South Africa. But some critics, women included, have objected to Ehlers's invention as "medieval" and "vengeful, horrible, and disgusting" and oppose its planned sale in drugstores. Others, refer to it simply as a "Vaginal Bear Trap," as it inflicts severe pain on the attacker. Since the wearer of the condom exhibits no visible signals that she is using it, there is no visible deterrence for a prospective attacker, which adds to criticisms that the device is vindictive.

But with wide spread publicity of the device already feeding the controversy behind it, it seems that knowledge of its existence alone would be a sufficeint deterant. However, the device has caused concern that it could be worn for consensual sex as part of a malicious act of revenge or outright cruelty.

Addressing the root problem

Although the Rapex is an ingenious invention spanning from tragic statistics, it will only prevent the rape itself, not the psychological or emotional trauma that the victim may encounter after the attack. But, the invention does not address the root problems behind the matter of rape such as poverty and perceptions of women’s rights in South Africa. Allegedly, one of the main factors is the rate of HIV positive men believing that having sex with a virgin will cure them of the virus.

Thoko Majokweni, director of the sexual offences and community affairs unit of South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority, says finding out why the country's rate of sexual assault is so high is half the battle.

"We're doing research into the root causes because we can't just be treating the symptoms all the time ," she says from the Pretoria office where she oversees the prosecution of sexual offences and family related matters.

Although the Rapex will aid in lowering the contraction of HIV through rape, it won’t aid in dealing with the matter at hand. As Majokweni continued: "You can't prevent what you don't know."

With grateful thanks to:

http://www.rapestop.net/

SA Police Service Provincial Rape Statistics

http://www.rapecrisis.org.za/rape-statistics.asp

www.rapecrisi.org.za

wikipedia

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1232

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