With sexual harassment and rape statistics going up like never before, it is probably time to get hold of some gadgets to shoo away the predators.
Students from SRM University, India have designed ‘anti-rape lingerie’, which delivers a nasty shock to the offender when he tries to rape. What’s more, electrifying lingerie will also send messages to the police and alert authorities with the help of in-built GPS and GSM modules, which also send text messages to friends or whoever else one might think is important to inform.
The lingerie is dubbed SHE “Society Harnessing Equipment”, which is a rather weird and bizarre name for something like this. Manisha Mohan, Niladri Basu Bal and Rimpi Tripathi are also working on developing a unique fabric that can easily be washed off without damaging the circuitry. The garment delivers a whopping 3800 kilowatt worth of shocks in about 82 jolts, rendering the offender immobile. Another point to note is that the lingerie differentiates rape from consensual sex.
While this seems like a clever idea just like carrying a pepper spray or a taser is, it still somehow reeks of slut-shaming and victim blaming. For instance, a woman does not necessarily have to carry a weapon or a specially designed undergarment in order NOT to be raped. No one should be raped (women or men) and more than gadgets and fabrics, I personally believe existing attitudes towards rape need to be changed. Sex education classes right at the outset and teaching men not to rape either women or men (Yes! Grown men get raped!) is a great way to deal with the problem of sexual assaults.
Ours is a gadget blog and we find this lingerie a smart solution to what has become an epidemic across countries like India, South Africa and Syria. However, one cannot forget that by encouraging women to carry anti-rape gadgets and clothing, we are implicitly saying they are responsible for their own safety, which should not be the case.
