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Rape Gets a Lot More Painful
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by Jordan Yerman | April 10, 2007 at 10:04 am
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This seems to be a real product launch, and not a hoax. South Africa has a lethal combination of high instances of rape and high HIV infection rates, so one company decided to strike back. One rand is awfully inexpensive: the product must cost more than this to make, so there seems to be a civic-duty (or vigilante/vagilante) element here.
Scumbags of South Africa, you have been warned. Later this month, women there "will be able to arm their vaginas with the Rapex device, a product priced at 1 rand (around 14 cents) and sold over the counter," the Guardian reports. "Shaped like a female condom and worn internally, its hollow interior is lined with 25 razor-sharp teeth, which fasten on to an attacker's penis if he attempts penetration."
Pardon me whilst I have some sympathy for rapists. There. I'm done.
There is an online presence for this thing as far back as 2005; I'll keep an eye on this-- should it turn out to be a hoax, I will let you know.
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at 10:35 on April 10th, 2007
I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others n relevant locations to look for more evidence.
If this is true, I don't think I'll spend a moment on sympathy... this is a good story! Are there other measures being taken by governments or communities to crack down on rape?
at 14:15 on April 10th, 2007
There are photos on Flickr; I requested them. I don't think it's a hoax.
at 14:19 on April 10th, 2007
I can't believe there is a device out there like this.
at 14:44 on April 10th, 2007
It isn't a hoax. I remember hearing about these in South Africa when we were there in 2001 and thinking that it is an update of the concept of vagina dentata - the vagina with teeth.
at 14:50 on April 10th, 2007
I thought of vagina dentata too! Oh, arts degree, how you serve me well...
at 11:06 on April 11th, 2007
Rapex sounds like great news from the lady's point of view but i worry... soon evidence of Rapex injury may become synonymous with rape itself. How about the vengeful mistress or the jilted lover... even the jealous wife, entrapping their partners into Rapex injuries and screaming RAPE!?
at 11:07 on April 11th, 2007
Rapex sounds like great news from the lady's point of view but i worry... soon evidence of Rapex injury may become synonymous with rape itself. How about the vengeful mistress or the jilted lover... even the jealous wife, entrapping their partners into Rapex injuries and screaming RAPE!?
at 07:20 on April 12th, 2007
This isn't a hox. The rapex device first came to my attention in late 2005/early 2006 (I think)
I remember thinking that it was a damn shame that we live in a world where the actions of others shape the human mind in such a way, through fear (and profit margins I imagine), that anyone could conceive of such an idea.
Sigh-quite depressing huh.
Ah, wikipedia assures me: "The device was unveiled on August 31, 2005 in rape-ridden South Africa."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapex
I'll post a picture in a minute.
at 07:28 on April 12th, 2007
ah, another vampire fan. 2001 - wow - took a long time to get this to market.
at 07:32 on April 12th, 2007
That one photo (mouth with teeth) is NOT of the device, but a lamprey. I would reccomend that we remove it from the story as it is missleading..making people think the device in question actually loooks like that -granted I'm sure it's not a pretty thing to look at, but I think we can agree it is NOT a fish/eel.
at 08:56 on April 12th, 2007
I agree - that lamprey should be removed. It is really icky and completely misleading. It is kind of interesting how this whole concept of the dentata, a Freudian man-fears-woman thing - which in Freudian thinking would connect on some level to the impulse behind violence toward women - ends up being part of a commercial solution to sexual violence. I'd have to dust off some of those arts courses in order to understand what it means though!
at 17:09 on April 15th, 2007
I'm actually gonna remove the lamprey picture; sorry apiration jones! Whilst it is an, ah, interesting visual simile, it isn't quite of the same subject matter as the article!
Would-be rapists: keep it in your pants... or you'll be keeping it in your pocket!