Wearable technologies, including a female condom designed to intimately injure an attacker, lockable underwear and anti-rape nail polish are “farcical” and potentially dangerous according to a study.
Academics in Glasgow and Ontario concluded many devices designed to help protect women from rape contribute to a “climate of fear” and could put them at more risk. These and anti-rape smartphone apps also reinforce the idea that women are responsible for preventing sexual attacks, researchers added.
Lesley McMillan, professor of criminology and sociology at Glasgow Caledonian University said anti-rape apps which track the user’s location could be used by abusive partners, while an attacker who realised such technologies were being used could become more aggressive or violent.
Some of the apps also push the responsibility for gathering evidence of sexual assault onto victims, Prof McMillan said.
Researchers assessed a selection of anti-rape technologies now on the market, from nail polish which changes colour in the presence of date rape drugs, to smartphone apps such as bSafe, which allows friends to ‘virtually’ walk someone home using GPS, and Circle of 6, which can be used to alert a group of close friends in the event someone is attacked.
Professor McMillan said: “Many of these devices feed into the common, and erroneous, assumption of ‘stranger danger’. We know this type of sexual assault is very rare, and most women are raped by someone known to them.
“In essence, these technologies place responsibility on everyone except perpetrators. They focus on women taking routine measures for their own sexual assault prevention.”
She said such apps could increase ‘victim blaming’ and see rape victims questioned as to why they had not used an app to inform someone of their whereabouts, or collect evidence.
Professor McMillan said: “Worryingly, these technologies could become the tool of the coercive controller. Devices that offer remote monitoring of someone’s location, for instance, could allow stalkers or abusers to identify locations as well as regular routines.”
Many devices make exaggerated claims about their ability to end violence against women, she said. “Selling women communication technologies to incorporate into their daily lives will not ultimately end the historic pattern of pervasive sexual violence.”
Sandy Brindley, director of Rape Crisis Scotland supported the findings. “The only effective means of preventing rape is to target the perpetrators, not focus on the behaviour of women,” she said. “While there may be a role for things that might make women feel a bit safer, I don’t think this should be the main focus of rape prevention. All they may mean is that the perpetrator targets someone else.”
AR Wear, which is raising funds to brink anti-rape underwear to the market, claims the product will not make attackers more violent and can help a women passively resist. “Resistance increases the chance of avoiding a completed rape without making the victim more likely to be physically injured,” the company says.
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