#rapeaxe

https://www.instagram.com/rape.axe?igsh=NWQ4amttNXp1dzMx

In the early 2000's, South African Sonnet Ehlers developed an anti-rape device modeled after vagina dentata called Rape aXe. It's designed like a tampon or female condom with teeth. When the rapist's penis enters his victim's vagina, the interior of the Rape aXe device punctures the penis with small spikes. Given that these spikes require surgical removal, rape convictions would have undoubtedly increased in South Africa (often called the 'rape capital of the world') if Rape aXe's mass production goal of 2007 was met.

Rape aXe's website prominently states, 'if men can use their bodies as a weapon of attack, well then it's time for women to do the same!' Enough said, right? I'm not surprised yet still disappointed that the answer is no. Critic Charlene Smith thinks, 'this is a medieval instrument,' to which Ehlers rebuts, 'a medieval deed deserves a medieval consequence.' Enough said.

Vaginas are too often seen as mysterious. This is probably due to the fact that they are physically 'hidden,' while a penis protrudes from the body. Following suit, the rape of a woman is historically blamed on the woman due to mass misunderstanding. Therefor, when the tables are turned and it is the man who is hurt by the act of rape, society can't handle the thought.

A nameless critic states that Ehler's plan to sell Rape aXe in drug stores was, 'vengeful, horrible and disgusting.' When I think of this prospect, I imagine a far different scenario. A little girl has been targeted by her father for years late in the night after her mother has fallen asleep. The perpetrator slips into her bedroom, unnoticed, almost every week and rapes her as she silently cries into her pillow ... Rape aXe becomes widely available in drug stores. She manages to stop by her local drug store on her way home from school and use her allowance to buy a Rape aXe device. She wears it every night for the next six days until the perpetrator is exposed. The local authorities are notified by the hospital as the surgically removed Rape aXe device's serial number matches the serial number safely provided by the victim on the Rape aXe website.

There are as many scenarios possible as future rapes committed. Will the Rape aXe device be used in a misandrous way? It most certainly will but in what ratios is uncertain. Is that a reason to prohibit Rape aXe's mass production? Only if a man's pain is worth more than a woman's.