Too drunk to consent (or not) to a sexual liason round the back of the bins? Sick of having to say ‘no’ with your tiny woman’s mouth every time a bloke pushes his luck? Don't worry, these handy consent pants can do it for you!
Canadian student Amulya Sanagavarapu is attempting (through Kickstarter) to launch her own range of ‘consent pants’. The pants feature slogans such as ‘No Means No’ (very sensible), ‘My Dress Does Not Mean Yes’ and ‘Ask Me What I Like ;)’, which you may want to avoid if, like me, you have a no-emoticons-on-your-underwear rule.
Whether you agree with the concept or not (we’re… undecided), these pants are the latest, and to be fair, most benign product to come out of what appears to be a booming market in anti-rape devices and products – some more successful than others.
A couple of weeks ago, India launched its first women-only handgun, designed to help women defend themselves against rape and gang rape (according to some estimates, a rape occurs every 22 minutes in India). The special lady gun was named Nirbheek, a synonym of Nirbhaya, a nickname given by the Indian press to the student who was gang-raped in Delhi in 2012 and later died of her injuries. And in case you were wondering, the Nirbheek comes packaged in a deep maroon jewellery case, to make it more attractive to women. 'Indian Women like their ornaments,' explains Abdul Hameed, general manager of the state-run Indian Ordnance Factory, which produced the guns. Excellent, glad you’ve cleared that one up for us.
As well as the standard safety devices (we’re thinking anti-rape alarms, pepper spray… lady guns, obvs), there’s some pretty insane shit out there. For example, sculptor and inventor Ira Sherman does a nice line in chastity belts, including one called ‘Snare’ which ‘ensnares and then viciously mangles the attacker with two sharp prongs’, and ‘The Injector’, another belt-like device that ‘injects tattoo dye and sedatives into a rapist. This stops the sexual predator instantaneously, and permanently tattoos him for positive identification.’ Jesus Christ.
[ASSETHERE=image]
If you feel like you’re giving off too much of a negative vibe with your chastity belt, why not purchase an anti-rape bra to go with your new consent pants? Students in India have designed anti-rape underwear that will give an attacker a nasty electric shock. It also comes equipped with GPS tracking so it can alert parents and police to potential assaults. Similarly, and also designed by students in India (see a theme emerging here?), the anti-molestation jacket discharges 110 volts of electricity when it detects unwanted devices, using the concept of a stun gun as inspiration.
If you prefer your anti-rape devices to be more… discreet, then the FemDefense is the prototype of an anti-rape tampon containing a sharp pin that impales itself on an attacker’s penis in the event of rape. It was designed by Swedish woman Anita Ingmarsdotter to contribute to the debate around rape in Sweden, and before you ask, no, the pin won’t impale itself on any part of you. Incidentally, another early prototype for a female anti-rape condom was a ‘killer tampon’ featuring a Guillotine blade that, if sprung, would decapitate any penile heads that happened to be in the vicinity. That particular product didn’t get made in the end. Similarly (actually, not that similarly), the Rape-aXe condom (a femidom, designed to be worn by women) comes with jagged teeth that will dig into an attacker’s penis, tearing deep into the skin and affixing itself – requiring medical attention in order to be removed.
[ASSETHERE=image]
Finally, and most delightfully bonkers of all, are the hairy stockings, which found fame in 2013 on China’s version of Twitter. The hairy leg tights, which are designed to protect women from ‘perverts’, quickly went viral – although no-one’s been able to confirm if these tights are actually a ‘thing’ or indeed if they’re on sale anywhere.
Yes, these devices are mostly silly and somewhat macabre, and no, we won't be using them any time soon, but all this exhaustive (and exhausting) list of anti-rape devices tells us is that the onus to prevent rape and sexual assault is still on women. Even the no-consent pants rely on women spelling out some basic truths on their crotch. They're the natural progression from that police officer in Toronto who told a group of young women if they wanted to avoid being assaulted, they shouldn't ‘dress like sluts’ (spawning the entire SlutWalk movement).
This increasingly bizzare run of anti-rape products and devices are missing the point – and maybe it's time we shifted the debate.
Follow Rebecca on Twitter @Rebecca_hol
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.