22 June 2010
New York, US
A doctor in South Africa has designed a new female "condom with teeth" aimed at preventing rape. Sonnet Ehlers has created the female condom, called Rape–aXe, some 40 years after she met a devastated rape victim who was like "a breathing corpse".
"She looked at me and said, ‘If only I had teeth down there’," Ehlers, who was a 20–year–old medical researcher at the time, recalled in an interview. "I promised her I’d do something to help people like her one day."
The condom has jagged teeth–like hooks that latch onto a man’s penis during penetration. Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make arrest. "It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it’s on. If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn’t break the skin," she said. After the trial period, they’ll be available for about $2 a piece. Critics, however, say that the condom is not a long–term solution and makes women vulnerable to more violence from men trapped by the device.
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