Anti-Rape Condom

RapeX is an anti-rape female condom invented by a South African woman named Sonette Ehlers. As a former employee with the South African Blood Transfusion Service, she treated many rape victims which served as her inspiration for creating this device. RapeX is a female condom that is inserted into the vagina much like a tampon. It is made of latex, like a normal condom, but it is lined with “shafts of sharp, inward-facing barbs.” If a man attempts to rape a woman, once he penetrates the woman, the condom would attach itself to the penis and cause severe pain to the man during withdrawal. Ideally, once the man is writhing on the floor, the woman would have enough time to escape the scene. In addition, the perpetrator would be unable to remove the female condom from his penis; he would have to get it surgically removed which would be a tell-tale sign to authorities and help in legal prosecution.

In all honesty, before learning the statistics of rape and AIDS victims in South Africa, I would not have even believed this type of device existed, nor would I have seen any reason for it to exist; however, knowing the horrific conditions that exist over there, I would donate money to any woman who lived there and wanted to invest in this type of device. In the Frequently Asked Questions section of her website Ehlers advises that women wear RapeX if “you have to travel long distances alone, on a train, working late, going out on a date with someone you don’t know too well, going to clubs, or in any situation that you might not feel comfortable or even just not sure.”

Of course, a device like this is not without its critics. Lisa Vetten from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa states, “It is like we are going back to the days where women were forced to wear chastity belts. It is a terrifying thought that women are being made to adapt to rape by wearing these devices … Women would have to wear this every minute of their lives on the off-chance that they would be raped.” Ehlers responds, “As with everything in life there will be negative attitudes and I can’t be responsible for people who refuse to educate men and feel the device is medieval. A medieval device for a medieval deed!”