South Africa, named the ‘rape capital of the world’, has one of the highest incidences of rape — and studies show that nearly half of those raped are adolescents, so a medical technician named Sonette Ehlers developed a product that immediately gathered national attention there.
Ehlers had never forgotten a rape victim telling her forlornly,
If only I had teeth down there.
Some time afterwards at the hospital where Ehlers worked, a man came in. in excruciating pain because his penis was stuck in his pants zipper.
Ehlers merged those images and ended up inventing an anti-rape device that goes by the name Rapex.
The device is basically a female condom with teeth lining the inside (resembling a tube with barbs) that works just like the protective spikes in a parking garage … You can go in, but whatever you do, don’t back out. The teeth are angled so they allow penetration, but bite like a shark as the penis is removed, supposedly causing so much pain that it will give the woman a chance to escape.
The woman inserts it like a tampon, with an applicator, and any man who tries to rape her impales himself on the barbs.
Further, according to Ms. Ehlers, the device will need to be surgically removed at a hospital, which will lead to the capture of the rapist.
When critics complained that it was a medieval punishment, Ehlers replied tersely,
A medieval device for a medieval deed!
(This was in the book ‘Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide’ by the husband-wife team of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published by Knopf in September 2009.)