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New Anti-Rape Female Condom
September 5, 2005

So what is this device, for which design South African inventor Sonette Ehlers was inspired after meeting a traumatised rape victim who told her, “If only I had teeth down there”, all about?

A medieval device built on hatred of men? Or a cheap, easy-to-use invention that could free millions of South African women from fear of rape, in a country with the world’s worst sexual assault record?

“Rapex”, the condom-like device bristling with internal hooks designed to snare rapists has re-ignited controversy over South Africa’s alarming rape rate, even before plans for its production were announced in Western Cape this week. The device, concealed inside a woman’s body, hooks onto a rapist during penetration and must be surgically removed.

Ms Ehlers said the rape trap would be so painful for a rapist that it would disable him immediately, enabling his victim to escape; but would cause no long-term physical damage and could not injure the woman.


“I don’t hate men. I love men. I have not got revenge in mind. All I am doing is giving women their power back,” Ms Ehlers said. “I don’t even hate rapists. But I hate the deed with a passion.”


- The original announcement at MedGadget last Fall


The problem is that several people see problems with the protective device such as the fact that rape is usually a crime of violence, not sex and the woman might be placing herself in furgher danger when the rapist is “clamped”. I don’t know. We report, you decide.

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Anti-rape device postponed
June 21, 2006, 06:45

The controversial anti-rape device, Rapex, which was scheduled to make its debut on store shelves this month, is likely only to be available towards the end of the year. The invention which was launched in August last year, is the brainchild of Sonette Ehlers, a retired South African blood technician. The mechanism will clamp itself to a rapist's penis forcing him to seek medical treatment and face arrest.

According to Ehlers, stock of the device is being manufactured overseas and will be imported back from the East into South Africa before the end of the year. Ehlers says she spends a lot of time in prisons and townships educating people about the device.

The project has been greeted with enthusiasm as well as scepticism. One of those critical of the device is Charlene Smith, a rape survivor, journalist and activist on women's issues. She says she believes the device will increase the risk of victims being killed.

"I would be appalled and every rape survivor I know would be appalled and be incredibly concerned, if the Rapex device does actually make it to stores. We believe that women who use it, will be killed by the rapist. If this device clamps onto a man, that man is right next to the woman, he's not going to jump out and say 'oh gosh this is hurting me'. He's going to kill that woman. So we increase the risk of the women raped, being killed," Smith said.

Ehlers says she is not perturbed by criticism of her invention. She replied and said, "I love criticism, but only when people know what they're talking about, then I love it. But you know, number one, is they say its medieval, I say its a mediaeval device for a mediaeval deed. And another thing is the very same people that criticise it they should go out and educate the burglars too so we that we can all remove the burglar bars from our windows. We don't even need to have the locks on our cars. So I mean this is a security device."

Smith adds that in the case of gang rape, the victim is in even greater danger, but Ehlers says after being caught in the device, the perpetrator is likely to identify his accomplices to police.

Lindsay Smith of Africa Contingency Consultants who specialises in Crisis and Threat Management believes the device will not work in an already violent society.

"I support any endeavour to prevent rape, but one must be realistic in a violent society where one must be careful of violence breeding violence or violence breeds violence. If you're in a violent situation with a violent person, the average violent person is not necessarily just going to get up and run away once he's been injured, especially if its in a gang situation. And that is my problem I have with Rapex. Is it not gonna effectively take an already violent person and make him more excessively violent?"

While the controversy rages on, the true test will be when it finally hits the shelves - hopefully later this year.

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 15:51 schreef -Mo- het volgende:
Ach, nieuws van slechts meer dan een jaar oud.

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 15:49 schreef Chrrris het volgende:

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 16:07 schreef Herald het volgende:

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kun je misschien uitleggen waarom je deze smilies in je bericht plaatst?

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 16:07 schreef Herald het volgende:

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kun je misschien uitleggen waarom je deze smilies in je bericht plaatst?

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 16:18 schreef roque79 het volgende:
ik denk dat het inderdaad een product is wat niet werkt...
Lijkt mij inderdaad dat de kans op vermoord worden aanzienlijk groter is...

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Plus moet je dan de hele tijd met dat apparaat inlopen? hoe krijg je hem erin of eruit...

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Zowiezo ben je dan volgens mij toch verkracht, hij heeft hem er toch ingestopt of niet?
Nee geen doeltreffend product in mijn ogen.

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 16:30 schreef Kiteless het volgende:
Naja, dan kan je 't 'm net zo goed ook nog even 20 seconden laten afmaken...

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als je een klap krijgt ben je in elkaar geslagen, maar als je total los wordt gemept ook. Wat heb je dan liever één klap of minutenlang in elkaar gerost worden.

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Op donderdag 21 september 2006 16:10 schreef sjerren het volgende:

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Mja dat vroeg ik mij eigenlijk ook al af aangezien t alles behalve grappig is...

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Op zaterdag 23 september 2006 17:14 schreef donald_dick het volgende:
waarom staat het oude bericht in een spoiler

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Op zaterdag 23 september 2006 19:04 schreef Chrrris het volgende:

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anders wordt het zo druk
maarja, niet zo handig dus, kan het niet meer terugveranderen.

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Op zondag 24 september 2006 03:09 schreef Drugshond het volgende:

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Ik kan er nog wel bij..... maar ik mis eigenlijk nog de linkjes van de bronnen.