Allez Les Filles - a little sidenote from Cosmo in France
Okay, so my new added perk of this weblog - girlie magazines from France! I wanted to bring home some of the very interesting girlie reading material we have here, so today's article is entitled "Let's go Girls - An Anti-Rape Condom, what do you think?"
To give a brief translation:
In South Africa, Sonet Ehlers put into action the Rapex, female condom made to catch rapists. And, the 25th of November, it is the world-wide day to eliminate violence against women. An occassion to start the debate
In latex, the Rapex is used in a similar fashion as a tampon with an applicator. It can be worn up to 24 hours. Why is it anti-rape? Bcause it is armed with little little hooks that, at the moment of penetration, attach to the skin of the penis and provoke a pain that stuns the rapists long enough to allow the victim time to escape. Even if this does not cause any long-term injuries, the aggressor is obliged to see a doctor to have the Rapex removed and then the police are also called to intervene. In South Africa, there are 52,000 rape accounts per year whereas in France there are only 8,000 (ndlr - that is a ton just the same!!!).
Anyhow, you get the gist of the article. The reponses were pretty much unanimous - pretty much against the concept:
It is degrading. To put on this thing is like saying,"I am a woman, therefore fragaile, therefore 'rapable'.
Women are more in danger at their own place rather than outside and it is the same in most societeies. This is not the right approach.
It is the modern version of the chastity belt. Who is going to control how this will be used?
Anyhow, there is my interesting article for the day for all my readers. You can see the image of this interesting little device in the photo above!
Take care and I will be back soon with fun little tidbits from here in France...OVER TO YOU BOB!
Jennifer
posted by Jennifer @ 10:28 AM
5 Comments:
If I lived in a place where women have very few rights, and the rape statistics were high, or if I felt at risk at all I would wear that thing and DARE some SOB to try to rape me. I am all for it!
And so the debate begins!! I personally don't know 1. How expensive it would be to wear a thing like that on a regular basis, 2. If I could TOLERATRE wearing and thing like that on a regular basis. The problem with rape is that we never expect it to happen, so basically we would have to wear it like ALL the time! Furthermore, what about when you have your period, can you like wear that and a tampon?? Questions questions and I am looking forward to responses!!!!
Jen
I agree with you, Jennifer. I'm all for preventing rape if at all possible, but yes this raises many questions!
I sure hope it would be able to be removed without injuring yourself, and like you mentioned - what about wearing it during a period? If it has a string that you pull just like a tampon, perhaps the rapist would notice that anyway? And like people have said before, rape isn't usually just about sex, it's about violence - who's to say that despite their pain, the attacker wouldn't kill the woman for um, pricking his prick?
Then again, I suppose just having the men know that this product exists could possibly make a difference. I also have to take into consideration that this seems more directed at women in countries where they have no rights (as parisjasmal said) and maybe it's more for protecting their virginity. I don't know. Interesting subject though, it's got the wheels turning in my head!
Thanks for visiting my blog, I like yours too!
1 for, 2 againt, and 1 neutral - too bad we can't get a better pole going here!!!! (WRITE ME PEOPLE!!)
Jen
In south africa, it certainly is more applicable than in the US or in Paris.
I see how it could possibly be misused ( the disgrutled SO comes to mind ), so that's a bit unsettling to me.
If it helps prevent one rape, then it is a good idea.
-C
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