September 01, 2005

• Ms. Ehlers should be expanding into the U.S. soon once those orders start rolling in from federal prisons.
• Dentata, indeed.
• ack!
• From the wiki: "The actual vagina is of course not able to bite." Phew.
• I'm waiting for the authentic Snow Crash version. I think an unconscious rapist would be preferable to a conscious one, particularly after the barbs kicked in.
• That's fucking awesome. If it works as advertised and gets enough publicity to become readily and easily aquired, than that'd be one of the best inventions of the past decade.
• on preview, completely seconds thursday. ...images a world...
• Man attempts to rape woman. Man puts his penis into what is essentially a mousetrap. Man decides that pain caused to him by woman is a fair exchange for what he was going to do. Man chooses not to further assault or kill woman because he respects her ingenuity. Man politely leaves and goes to hospital to have device removed. Wow. What could possibly go wrong?
• Here's a metafilter thread on a similar device which is, as I recall, not an actual product. Very nice if it's effective ("nice" in a rather loose sense of the word), though I'd share the concern of the guy in the article that encountering this device is likely to enrage an attacker and perhaps put the woman in more mortal danger.
• Ummmm, hold on here, guys. I could so totally see a scenerio of the guy being somewhat preoccupied and thus allowing the woman to get away. No? Unless the rapist was one of those 17 year olds that promise, "I'll just put in the tip. Honest."
• Like democracy in Iraq, bernockle, that belief in how the events will unfold is incorrect. If you stick your cock into a mousetrap you are going to be in far too much pain to be able to attack the woman. Even 10 seconds of the agony you get from that is more than enough time to give her a chance to escape. A woman doesn't lie there placidly being raped - she's kicking and fighting as well (generally much to the rapists delight), and when he is too proccupied with SEVERE INSCRUTABLE COCK PAIN he won't be able to continue to hold her down. She reports it to police (which, of course she will, being that she's already taken the precationary step of wearing the rapex), and rapist get busted, still en-mousetrapped. Think about it - if this thing comes into widespread usage - it will decimate rape rates in SA. Maybe a few will do what bernockle suggests, but I'd bet my own virgin anus that this device has the potential to be very benificial to society. btw, my snark in the opening sentance is not directed at anyone. really, i was just being goofy and decided to phrase it that way
• I don't know, it seems like a preliminary digital (or other) probe would easily defeat this, and then the woman might be in even more danger.
• Er, un-... think about that concept for a moment. "Hold on a sec, I'm about to rape you, just sit still for another moment while I scan your vagina for a rapex." In other words, that doesn't happen. I understand the concern that this could potentially put a woman in greater danger, but the absolute fact is that a device such as this is imperative in curbing rape. Look at the realities of what rape is and how it occurs, and try to find a way that this wouldn't stop a rapist in mid-act. The key to a device like this is to ensure it causes enough pain that a rapist can think of nothing else to removing the device, allowing the victim to escape. And I'm quite sure that Mrs. Ehlers is fully aware of that.
• In other words, that doesn't happen. Well, you think it wouldn't. I obviously think it would, with the likelihood increasing as these things became more well-known.
• Excruciating pain leads to an adrenaline rush which super-sedes the agony of which you speak. Adrenaline= fight or flight which will put the woman in more danger. This is one of the reasons authorites often recommend against shooting at assailants, if you manage to hit them but not kill them you are suddenly in a great deal more danger from someone who was previously considering taking your wallet but now has revenge on the mind and the adrenaline to back it up.
• Your belief is wrong. Read this. Read alot more about what rape is and how it takes place, the sheer violence of it and the manner in which the act is conducted, and then come back and talk about an anti-rapex vagina scanner. Better yet, spend some time working with rape victims. It's like nothing you can ever imagine, and there is nothing about it that is not utterly primal, disgusting, and brutal. People might often take premeditative steps for murder - but people don't murder on even close to the scale that they rape. Even if the steps to the act are planned, the act itself never is. i love you all, you are all fantastic monkies
• I'm afraid there's still a long way until an effective protection device is perfected. Hate to think like this, but unless it's a deranged, non-thinking bastard, what's to stop would-be rapists from first forcing the victim to remove the device? And if he's too horny and rabid to care and gets hooked, who knows what savage response he will effect on her, even while under unbearable pain? What about multiple attackers? Shit. Too grisly to imagine all this... Even a Snowcrash-grade device, which stealthily knocks out the attacker is a little too late. Sure he would be out, but the victim has already suffered intrusion. The one situation in which it could be more effective is against rohypnol rape, when the victim is drugged, drunk or barely thinking. Ah. Damn our poor control over primal urges and frustrated thirst of power.
• if you manage to hit them but not kill them you are suddenly in a great deal more danger from someone who was previously considering taking your wallet but now has revenge on the mind and the adrenaline to back it up. Cite please. I know effects of gunshot wounds and I call complete bs.
• IanWS, by digital, I mean finger insertion, which does happen, as is mentioned in the link you posted, I don't know what you had in mind when you call it a scanner. Or, as someone in the Metafilter thread suggested a broomstick handle. I'm well aware of what rape is and how it is about violence. I just think you are wrong to think that a rapist only uses his penis. I think you are wrong. You think I am wrong. Oh well.
• "Nothing has ever been done to help a woman so that she does not get raped and I thought it was high time," Sonette Ehlers, 57, said Bullshit.
• a)Will never be legal in US b)there are a zillion problems, some of which are listed above when did brutally violent vigilante justice become acceptable just b/c the crime in question is a hot-button issue involving sex?
• I want to know how we are going to get rapists to wear a condom in the first place.
• I'm sure the rapists will figrue out a way to add some kind of deflector shield to their penises anyway. No one wins in a genital arms race.
• Let's add fuel to the flames: IanWoudlSay just bet his virgin anus, and guess what? If attacker(s) think that the victim is wearing a device, what is to avoid them from anally raping the victim? And that to become the favorite modus operandi, since it is deemed safer? Then again, some defensive action is better than none. Expect escalation, though.
• when did brutally violent vigilante justice become acceptable... I don't believe that violence in self-defense against a violent attack was ever particularly unacceptable. This isn't quite the same as hunting the guy down after the fact and mutilating the offending member. Nevertheless, I'm still having an awfully easy time imagining ways in which using this could go wrong.
• C'mon people, we dealt with the whole "protect the virgins" thing before. The solution, then as now, is simple: chastity belts. Eh? eh? Who's with me?
• Could cut date rapes, but not gang rapes, which are increasingly common , or increasingly reported, in places like Delhi.
• If the devices become common, rapists will simply take an extra three seconds to remove it. I wonder how many many women will end up in the hospital with an attack condom clamped on their finger from when they tried to take it out?
• Even in a non-rapex situation, you have to decide whether to fight back, try to talk him out of it, or do nothing and just hope he doesn't kill you. Obviously this all depends on the psychology of the rapist, the situation, etc etc etc... Given the choice, I'd rather go down fighting. At least give the bastard some trauma in return, even if that does mean that he takes it out on me. But that's me. But, yeah, once they become common, rapists will know to look for it - but only the ones that think that far ahead.
• Unless a woman can put one of these up her ass as well, it'll be pretty useless. Once rapists get wind that such a thing exists, they'll find ways to avoid it.
• The 'defensive weapon' idea might seem promising as the woman remains an innocent victim rather than being seen as an aggressor. However, it's a terrible idea to hurt but not incapacitate an attacker. Either you allow people to have weapons and accept that they will be deadly, or not. This is admittedly a difficult decision.
• only about 25 years old, folks. I remember this from my "oddball" files when I worked at the Patent Office. fun bonus - this one shoots out a poisoned dart, laden with "a quick-acting, safe narcotic such as scopolamine, or the like to render the rapist unconscious."
• Ethnic Chinese women in Indonesia have been buying chastity belts for protection. (from cenoxo's comment in the metafilter thread).
• Unless a woman can put one of these up her ass as well, it'll be pretty useless. That's what made America great. Thinking outside the box. *ducks* Oh, and: MonkeyFilter: Unless a Woman Can Put One of These Up Her Ass as Well, It'll Be Pretty Useless.
• Adding on to what thursday said, women are often told not to fight off a rapist, because if you fight back it might make him angry enough to maim and/or kill you. Then, if a woman prosecutes the rapist, he might be let off because she didn't fight back. I'm not saying this to add to any potential trainwreck, but to point out that any discussion of rape is complicated and messy.
• All this reminded me of that one case when a guy booby-trapped his car stereo with razors, so a thief sliced his fingers trying to rob it. The thief sued, and the car owner ended up paying... couldn't justice end up twisted obscenely so a similar situation could arise regarding this device?
• MonkeyFilter: "I'll just put in the tip. Honest."
• They also can't count on the man going to a hospital to have it removed. Some will try to remove it themselves, others will go to a friend or a sympathetic doctor, etc. And if it ever hit the U.S. I would guess at some point a rapist would actually try to sue the woman for wearing this device and doing damage to him. Stranger things have happened.
• add some kind of deflector shield Well, then. Skip this paltry device and go straight to what works.* *not making light of a horrible subject, but wanting to lighten things up just a small bit
• I have nothing to add except MonkeyFilter: SEVERE INSCRUTABLE COCK PAIN
• How about it being used in non-rape situations? Ex-husband, boyfriend, etc....
• Not being a rapist, that was my immediate thought, Bobsled. But it occured to me that a woman who would do something like that would find a way to assault her partner with or without a weapon attached to her vagina.
• Wow what a useless product. As soon as something like this traps one raptist. The other ones will be smart enough to check for it. (I'm assuming that there's a simple way of disarming it) My question is, how did they test the product?