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Thursday, March 29, 2007

A new perspective on the meaning of 'NO!'

We've all heard the expression by now...."What part of 'no' do you not understand" regarding rape. Now, it seems, there's another way to make the meaning even more crystal clear for those who didn't get the message: "RapeX," the anti-rape condom.

Patented in Africa where it is estimated that a woman is raped every 26 seconds in South Africa alone, this condom has small rows of teeth that clamp down on the penis upon penetration and can only be removed by a doctor. By clamping down on the head and shaft of the penis it makes it unlikely the perpetrator will be able to evade identification according to an article posted via The News Blog. As a relatively new father of a 14 month old baby girl, reading this article I found looking for something else unrelated has given me pause regarding the perils that face women everywhere when it comes to this crime.

Just to illustrate how damaging this act can be on society, the BBC News tells us that in South Africa only 1 out of 7 rapes are reported and that only seven pecent of those result in conviction. To repeat, that's 1 in 7.

I, for one, think it is an idea whose time has come in a society like South Africa where rape seems to be not just part of the culture but the norm in the dynamic of male/female relationships when one considers those statistics.

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