Anti-rape device must be banned, say women

[emad]

June 08, 2005

Anti-rape device must be banned, say women
From Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg



FURIOUS South African women have called for a controversial new anti-rape device, dubbed a “rat trap”, to be banned by the Government.
The tampon-like device, invented by a woman, supposedly protects women from rapists by cutting into a man’s penis.

It has sparked an empassioned debate over the high number of rapes committed each day in the country and the authorities’ apparent failure to tackle the issue.

Activists are outraged and want to stop it going on sale alongside tampons in chemists and supermarkets next month.

Charlene Smith, a leading anti-rape campaigner, said: “This is a medieval instrument, based on male-hating notions and fundamentally misunderstands the nature of rape and violence against women in this society. It is vengeful, horrible, and disgusting. The woman who invented this needs help.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1644792,00.html

[sniffa]

1. what!?

how dare they defend themseLves?

:puke:

[Warpy]

6. Well, it's also open to misuse

by women who want to exact revenge on straying partners. I think that may be the point. It's really a horrible device, requiring general anesthesia and surgical removal.

As much as we'd love to see rapists suffer for what they put us through, the method of grab and twist works even better.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Megahurtz]

46. Yeah, you're right.

A gun would be much better.:popcorn:

[NoKillShelterGuy]

61. Except, of course....

that South Africa has strict guns control. Come to think of it, that explains part of the problem...

[kypper]

69. Why don't they just enact the Florida law?

Shoot first, fuck the questioning. :eyes:

[kath]

60. Rape is not about "Rampant Libido", it's about violence and control.

[saigon68]

74. A 45 Cal slug to the head also stops the criminals use of violence and

control of women.

Our limp wristed Demo Dino Governor vetoed concealed carry.

In spite of the fact that the cowardly Viet-Nam draft dodger, has 30 special agents protecting his sorry ass at all times.

It doesn't work for the average poor woman who works the night shift and is killed and raped by a gang of marauding thugs who are carrying their own "heat" in the waist bands of their baggy jeans.

[satireV]

55. If they think they have the penis trap they will just anally rape them

instead.

It's a typically bad idea from non thinkers.

:puke:

[katinmn]

68. A rape every 26 seconds. The device will have to do till

something better comes along and till inventers design the anal model.

[ananda]

2. back to the medieval..

.. chastity belt, eh... only a bit higher tech.

Ugghh.

Sue

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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[Mika]

57. A man Coulter mask would be as effective. n/t

:puke:

[SaveElmer]

3. Wouldn't this be a disease hazard...

I mean if you are cutting it, there would be blood in places where you don't want blood to be. Seems like it could harm the women as much as the rapist.

[ck4829]

5. I read up on this

It says the risk of getting the attacker's bodily fluids on the woman's body is actually quite high.

[ElectroPrincess]

12. I get your point ... but if it came with a warning sitcker that the woman

could wear - kinda like the preventive purposes that the security companies (ADT,etc.) advertize in front of protected houses :P ... well the mere threat of having one's ding-a-ling chopped-off would have a hell of an effect. The FEAR FACTOR alone would be worth not completely scrapping this, somewhat flawed item. :toast:

I can just see the poster signs and educational videos now! :popcorn:

[bbgrunt]

35. sounds like the theory that manners improve when everyone has a gun nt

[rocktivity]

36. DING DING DING! Ck4829, you're our grand prize winner!

...the risk of getting the attacker's bodily fluids on the woman's body is actually quite high.
Which pretty much defeats the device's purpose, doesn't it? You might end up with an even bigger problem than an unwanted pregnancy.

:shrug:
rocknation

[getmeouttahere]

8. Good point, SaveElmer....

there's gotta be a better way...I've always believe that rapists should be castrated, but not inside the woman!

[LynneSin]

22. Great - shred the man's penis and catch a disease

Especially in a country like South Africa where AIDs rate is horrible :cry:

[katinmn]

75. What? Do you think rape victims are not now contracting aids from

rapists??

Since they're at risk for contracting HIV anyway, I'd rather they tear up the rapist's penis.

With any luck they will acquire a bad infection and the tool will have to be removed.

[Enraged_Ape]

24. That was my first thought

This is quite possibly the dumbest anti-crime device ever made.

[Straight Shooter]

4. I'm ambivalent. Rape is a crime of power, not sex.

Hurt a man physically after he's already penetrated and he's likely to go ballistic and kill the woman.

OTOH, if he suspects a target may have one of those devices implanted, perhaps he won't make any attempt at all. If it happens to enough of them, maybe it just might work. Hmmmm..... something to think about.

I would prefer a tampon-like device which would release a conconction which causes permanent shriveling of the male organ only, but I guess science hasn't quite gotten that far yet.

[ElectroPrincess]

13. Hey, if you HURT a man there, he's incapacitated for at least 5 minutes!

Hit hard and run like hell!

[alfredo]

37. Novocaine. That would confound the attacker, and ease the physical

pain of the victim.

[Straight Shooter]

38. Very innovative. An ampule which bursts when strong pressure is applied.

I've been thinking about the blood contamination aspect of the anti-rape device. It seems to carry a lot of inherent risks.

I like your idea of Novocaine. You obviously are well-informed enough to appreciate that rape can indeed be very painful physically to the woman, as well as emotionally and mentally.

[alfredo]

48. I have known a few victims who were recovered enough to trust

a man with the horrors of their experience.

The problem with Novocaine, it might take too long to really work on the man. He might be one of those who finish rather quickly. Probably doing something really gross like crapping and peeing on him might deter him. Anything you can do to stop him is OK with me.

Carrying a weapon is an alternative, but you don't want to carry a weapon he can take from you and use on you.

There is also an ampule that you can break that emits an extremely foul odor. Along with the ampule is the antidote so the victim can be presentable when viewing the line up.

[ck4829]

7. I am also ambivalent

Women do need a way to defend themselves, but is this device a risk in itself?

My suggestion:

Allow self-defense education for every woman

Also give education to women as to what to do if they are raped

It's very sad, this stuff that is going on in South Africa. I think this is all because of the Apartheid regime.

[Warpy]

10. No, it's because of folk medicine

that says AIDS can be cured by sex with a virgin, and no, she doesn't have to be a willing virgin.

There you have it, the worst combination of patriarchy, ignorance, and poor access to real health care.

[ck4829]

11. OMG.

I would like to know who the person was who started that thing up.

I've heard about that before.

I think it was simply more than folk medicine, maybe my tinfoil hat is on, but I think that there was a little malevolence behind that story.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Seeing as AIDS has only been around for a short time there's

certainly no history of that being a 'traditional' cure, so somebody must have planted that idea.

I think malevolence is the right word.

[cally]

18. It was thought that sex with a virgin cured STDs, also.

Including aids was just an extension of that belief.

[SemperEadem]

30. are there self-defense moves for guns, machetes and knives?

Rape is the weapon of choice on that continent by both civilians and government troops. Our 4th amendment tells us that our governmental troops cannot break down the door of our houses without warrant and probable cause and certainly cannot come in and gang rape the females inside, young, old and babies; this is an everyday occurance over there and most Americans can't understand that kind of horror.

Something needs to be done so that those women can protect themselves. In and of itself, I see nothing wrong with the device. The man should not be attacking the woman, period. However, for it to have been made so that would put the woman at greater risk to contract AIDS was shortsighted on the inventor. Their heart is in the right place, but it needs to be thought out a little better.

[katinmn]

70. Self defense classes? How about forcing all men to take

sexual harrassment training?

From what I understand about S. Africa, many areas of the country lack basic education, let alone something as high-falutin' as self defense and pysch counseling.

You can't apply the same remedies there that you would in a once highly developed country like the US.

[sweetheart]

15. That's a great idea, but a hairpin works better

Just let the guy get on top and then ram the hair pin in his ear with
like a nail, straight in to his brain. Then he'll wish you were using
a dick trap instead.

Hair pins can be kept handily in the hair just in case they're needed
to kill a rapist. Fuck rapists. These contraptions should be marketed
worldwide so that assholes come to realize there are consequences to
heinous crime... nonlethal ones... otherwise, best to stick with hair
pins and leave rapists stone dead where they belong.

[Mizmoon]

16. Salon once published a rape story from South Africa

The woman, a liberal who had been heavily anti-aparthied, described the gang rape of her sister-in-law. The men beat her brother, locked him in the closet, raped his wife, stole everything from their house, and drove away. The whole story was horrifying, but the worst part was how expected it all was - they had lived in fear of an attack for years and finally it happened.

If the government isn't going to protect women, I don't see what choice they have. I don't think self-defense education is enough. Women generally cannot overpower a man. And in the rape story above, the couple had a gun (apparently everyone in S.A. does because of the violence). Didn't help them. In fact, the rapists stole it too.

[0007]

17. Who's got a photo or drawing of the "Rat Trap"?

To dream of falling into a rat-trap, denotes that you will be victimized
and robbed of some valuable object.

To see an empty one, foretells the absence of slander or competition.

A broken one, denotes that you will be rid of unpleasant associations.

To set one, you will be made aware of the designs of enemies,
but the warning will enable you to outwit them.

[shanti]

19. is this a joke???

it sounds medieval!

[katinmn]

64. what's worse? A penis trap or raping girls and women?

A rape occurs every 26 seconds in S. Africa. Gee, two have been raped in the time it takes to type this.

[Igel]

20. Russian has an obscenity, 'pizda s zubami',

literally a "c*** with teeth". Certainly not a very nice thing to call a woman.

On the other hand, I never seriously considered the possibility of its merely being a rather crude, but stunningly accurate, description.

[foo_bar]

43. aka the "vagina denta"

By inviting people to peer into her vaginal canal, Sprinkle not only comments on society's fetishization of female genitalia, she demystifies one of the oldest icons in Western art and literature - the vagina denta , a dark, mysterious, potentially dangerous region. (1992, 24-25)

Indeed, in HBO's 1993 videotape of pieces of her show, Sprinkle is seen prior to inserting the speculum commenting "I want to prove to some of you guys that there are no teeth in there , so you can relax and don't worry."...

http://www.sexuality.org/l/art/anniems.html

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

21. Holy cow, it's the Lincoln-Pruitt Anti-Rape Device!

In 1982 Emily Prager, an American author who wrote for the National Lampoon early in her career, published a book of short stories called "A Visit From the Footbinder and Other Tales." One of the stories was entitled "The Lincoln-Pruitt Anti-Rape Device: Memoirs of the Women's Combat Army in Vietnam"; in it, the female soldiers killed the enemy by allowing themselves to be raped. My copy of the book is long gone, but I never forgot that story. Life imitates art, indeed.

[Eloriel]

58. I had heard rumors of exactly that, and these were on my mind

as I've been reading this thread. Thanks for the confirmation.

[oneold1-4u]

23. God gave women-

The devices for controlling men! It is the BRAIN and BIRTH CANAL!
They just gave it all to the men to use and abuse! Any who have made any attempt to regain control of those two items are ridiculed into oblivion, killed, or allowed to die and make them saints in the way of showing reparation!

[geckosfeet]

25. : \ This is really crazy !

Why don't they focus on the rapists !!!? How misguided !!

[TeeYiYi]

26. I found a picture!!! . . .

TYY:rofl:

[valis]

27. I'm FOR the device....

[Yupster]

28. I'm in favor of trial before punishment

What if nine rapists get stopped and the tenth one was an innocent man who's girlfriend thought he was cheating and decided to punish him.

Or what if a girl decides to have sex after getting very drunk at a party and forgot she was wearing it.

Nope - I'll go for making this illegal like other act of vigilantism.

[SemperEadem]

31. both of your examples are non sequitur

[philosophie_en_rose]

41. Self defense doesn't require a trial.

Frankly, a woman can castrate a man with almost anything. Do you want to make a list of things to ban?

[Megahurtz]

47. Lol!

Good comeback!:D

[noiretextatique]

62. me too...with some reservations

however, i support self-protection. if someone decides to rape, he deserves whatever he gets.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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[0rganism]

32. So now rapists have to "probe" with a foreign object first?

I wonder what a rapist would do to a women found to be wearing a "rat trap".

This device is utterly useless at best, dangerous to the user at worst.

[Demit]

39. Doesn't sound utterly useless to me. Sounds effective at what it was

designed for.

I couldn't read the full article, but I'm a little skeptical about how it emphasizes that women are speaking out against it. It's "based on male-hating notions"--? No, it's based on RAPIST-hating notions.

Women need something that will make would-be rapists understand that they can't hurt women whenever they want; that if they try, they can be hurt right back.

[katinmn]

65. One rape every 26 seconds. Girls and women are don't deserve this

After word gets out and a few rapists have to go to the hospital this should make would-be rapists think twice.

[Baclava]

42. Ponder this though

Once a guy realizes that he's been "trapped" - think he's going to let the woman live?

[0rganism]

44. Exactly my point.

Once word gets out about two or three "trapped" guys, the rest will start "checking" before they risk their penises. And I fear for the life of any woman discovered to be wearing one of those things.

[grace0418]

50. At best he will just force her to remove it.

Unless I'm not understanding it.

[0rganism]

56. Like I said, useless at best (n/t)

.

[katinmn]

71. Yes. He'll be focused on himself and hopefully in a lot of pain.

[Toots]

34. When I was in Vietnam we were told

The woman were likely to be VC and that they had devices they could insert into their vagina which would shred a man's penis during intercourse. I never knew any GI to have ever witnessed such a thing and don't know if in fact anything like that ever happened but we were warned about such. This is not a new idea.

[HockeyMom]

54. Right

I heard from a friend, who was in Nam, the military warned them about razors.

[philosophie_en_rose]

40. If only this weren't necessary

If I lived in a country where I could expect to be raped in my lifetime, I don't think I'd think twice about using this device. Bodily fluids are likely to get on me anyway, so that is not an argument not to use it.

It's a method of self-defense that probably causes male DUers to cover their laps. There may be a chance of abuse, but a woman can castrate a man with almost anything. Whether or not to wear one of these devices is a woman's choice.

I don't like the idea of them, but I can't support banning them.

[noonwitch]

45. A dagger hidden in my boot will serve me just as well

Except I can end the rape easily by slitting his throat instead of his wang.

[katinmn]

72. Agreed.

:thumbsup:

[grace0418]

49. I don't understand something.

If it's a device to be inserted like a tampon, couldn't the rapist force her to remove the device or remove it himself? Or is it somehow (???) permanent? And what's to stop him from anally raping her or forcing her to perform oral sex?

[grace0418]

51. Also, if he's already penetrated the woman, couldn't HIV be spread

from his injury? Not to mention the fact that he could freak out and kill her for injuring him. I really don't understand how this thing will help at all.

[Enraged_Ape]

63. Yes

I take it back: This isn't the stupidest anti-crime invention ever. It's the stupidest invention ever.

[katinmn]

66. yeah, what if? I think most rapes are rather "rushed"

and this device could avert a lot of them, or at least mark the rapist. I doubt there would be many repeat offenders.

[sakabatou]

52. Ow....

[geniph]

53. These are going to get the women killed

and, no, rape isn't always a fate worse than death. The rapists will just start using foreign objects instead, and if the device is discovered by that method, the woman will probably be killed.

It'd be better, I think, to address the underlying causes of these rape epidemics and deal with them. Teaching women to defend themselves. Teaching women to defend one another. Teaching men to respect women.

[Name removed]

59. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

67. a sm toy at best.

Get a gitmo broomstick and shove it up the uterus, will hurt the rapist big time. the "chastity belts" which they once showed in TV seemed to be more goal-directed. i think it will get the victims killed or give them unpleasant encounters with wirebrushes once the idea spreads.

anyway since i'm not in SA or a rapist anyway... i can give a fuck.

Sadism and retaliation ain't no good defense...

[demgurl]

73. *sigh* I agree with this!

Maybe it is just that I was a rape victim or maybe it is because I heard the creator interviewed on BBC NPR about 1 this morning. I only know the other side and what was said in the interview but rape happens quite frequently over there. This is one of the only ways the women have found to empower themselves.

They actually referenced this article while the interview progressed. she does not hate men and has had relationships with them. She uses the product herself. It was a little weird at first but she got used to it and feels weird when she does not use it. She sounded very articulate and it sounds as if the whole idea was thought out.

First, I can not say whether or not this digs in and draws blood I can only infer from what I heard. The rapist does not even know that this thing has attached until he is done with what he is doing. I may not be a man but I would think if it was akin to 'rat trap' and drew blood that a man would know that immediately.

she was asked about retribution for this thing being attached to the penis and there has not been a single instance of this happening. The fact is, the only way this can be removed is by the hospital and a doctor so the guy is going to have to turn himself into the hospital to ever have it removed. They are going to be asking questions and if he hurts her even more, or kills her, then he will be in even more trouble.

How does this contraption work? I have no idea. I thought about it long and hard (no pun intended) last night. She seemed forthcoming in her answers and she said that this is not even noticed until the man withdraws. How does it do that without drawing blood or clamping down hard? I don't know. I do think that if it caused enough harm to draw blood that it would be banned and not allowed to be marketed. Let's face it, most law makers are men and I doubt they would let such a horrific thing happen to one of their own. You know it really would not fly in this country.

Just trying to see this from all sides.

[katinmn]

76. Thank you, demgurl

I don't think many who have responded to these threads have had any personal experience with rape.

[demgurl]

79. katinmn...

Thanks for the reply. It is an awful thing and I could not really talk about it for a long time. I did decided to empower myself and take everything back. I talk about it when I can since the dark shadow should not be cast on me but on the people who commit such atrocities.

Amazingly enough, people are sometimes very uncomfortable with the subject and prefer you not even talk about it. I will not be silenced or embarrassed. I did nothing wrong.

[redqueen]

77. Interesting responses on this thread...

When a woman is raped, she is encouraged to "fight back"... does fighting back not also risk incurring the wrath of the attacker, and possibly inviting more violence?

People say the attackers will check and kill the women... what's to stop them from killing a woman who fights back?

People say that bodily fluids will get on the woman... if she's raped, she's already facing that risk. Also in fighting back she may draw blood... should she not fight back for risk of getting bodily fluids on her?

People say that she may abuse the device. Should women be banned from using scissors, knives, hairpins, etc... on the grounds that she may decide to use them for something other than self-defense?

I honestly don't know what to make of these responses...

[grace0418]

78. Well I think the difference between fighting back and this

devise is this: If you fight back, yes, there is a certain amount of risk. But for many attackers it simply becomes a case of not really wanting to bother with someone who fights back because the attacker doesn't want to be injured himself. The self defense classes I took talked about the fact that rape is a power trip more often than not. Many attackers won't bother if they don't think it's a sure bet.

But if the attacker thinks he's getting what he wants and THEN gets an injury on the most sensitive organ on his body, I think the chance that he'll go ballistic and kill the woman is much greater.

You see it in the wild. Animals will often back off if they think the risk is greater than the reward (i.e. if the prey fights back), but an injured animal will attack without regard to his own safety just as an automatic response.

[katinmn]

80. and an 85 pound 15 y.o. fights back a 185 pound y.o. male how?

Or a 130 pound 40 y.o. female fights off three male attackers how?

Saying "just fight back" is an insult to rape victims. If only that's all it took there wouldn't be any rapes, would there? More often than not, attackers and attackees are unevenly matched.

[grace0418]

81. I agree with you. My point was that, if the advice is to

fight back, it's better to struggle and become too much of hassle for the attacker than to injure your attacker in such a way that he will surely strike back out of sheer instinct.