After doing a little more research I thought I'd follow up on the rape-deterring condom that came up in class this week. The condom's inventor, Sonette Ehlers, is a doctor in South Africa, which has the highest rape rates in the world, acording to Human Rights Watch: one in every two women will be raped in her lifetime. This fact gives the device some important context, as the probability and circumstances of rape are rather different than those here in the US.According to Ehlers, women there have resorted to DIY versions of the Rape-Axe (as this condom is called) for years, inserting sponge-wrapped blades into their vaginas before going out. Yikes. While certainly not without its problems, the Rape-Axe Condom is still a step up in safety for both parties, at least on one level. Here's a fairly in-depth article on the condom from Mother Jones: Anti-Rape World Cup Condoms... With Teeth?
