A brief Internet search revealed that this is not new. I was probably the recent interest in everything South African inspired by the Football World Cup which is responsible for a renewed interest in this:
(CNN) -- South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers was on call one night four decades ago when a devastated rape victim walked in. Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse.If I've seen anything that can't be topped in its shameless "cure the symptom, not the disease" approach, this is it. Dear South Africans, why don't give one free to any female visitor to your country at immigration. A stamp in the passport plus a Rape-aXe and any woman is free to go anywhere and with anybody in your country and not to worry!
"She looked at me and said, 'If only had teeth down there,'" recalled Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time. "I promised her I'd do something to help people like her one day."
Forty years later, Rape-aXe was born.
Ehlers is distributing the female condoms in the various South African cities where the World Cup soccer games are taking place.
The woman inserts the latex condom like a tampon. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line its inside and attach on a man's penis during penetration, Ehlers said.
Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it -- a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest.
"It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on," she said. "If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn't break the skin, and there's no danger of fluid exposure."
Ehlers said she sold her house and car to launch the project, and she planned to distribute 30,000 free devices under supervision during the World Cup period.
"I consulted engineers, gynecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe," she said.
After the trial period, they'll be available for about $2 a piece. She hopes the women will report back to her.
It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on. If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter
"The ideal situation would be for a woman to wear this when she's going out on some kind of blind date ... or to an area she's not comfortable with," she said.
To read the entire article klick here.
15 comments:
A man wouldn't have invented this since a male inventor would know that no man would fail to notice the presence of a latex female condom, and thrust his part into it. Moreover, the part about a doctor having to remove it is entirely unconvincing if one knows about "shrinkage" and flaccidity. Of course, I'd be glad if I'm wrong on all counts, but if I'm wrong, why haven't we've seen any articles saying that men already been arrested at S African hospitals for having this certain "malady"?
The part about testing this product out in S Africa because of high rape statistics may be true, but black men are famous for having larger than average "ahems", meaning it would only work on them and white porns stars.
Indians have smaller than average "ahems":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6161691.stm
The issue is serious because about one in every five times a condom is used in India it either falls off or tears, an extremely high failure rate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_penis_size#Flaccid_length
The penis and scrotum can contract involuntarily in reaction to cold temperatures or nervousness, referred to by the slang term "shrinkage", due to action by the cremaster muscle. The same issue affects cyclist and exercise bike users, with prolonged pressure on the perineum from the saddle, and the straining of the exercise causing the penis and scrotum to contract involuntarily which is sometimes referred to as "gym balls" or "saddle balls". An incorrect saddle may ultimately cause erectile dysfunction (see crotch pressure for more information).
It should also be said that violence against the penis might only infuriate a strong and violent male further, putting the woman's life at risk both in the immediate - if he doesn't faint - or later on, if he is the kind who keeps a grudge. This might result in an increase in the already enormus murder rate of women in SA.
Goodness, this is more than I ever WANTED to know about all that. :-|
What strikes me as MOST peculiar is the fact that everybody seems to accept the status quo and discusses eagerly the pros and conts of this contraption, while nobody even begins to question the root causes, and no, not even here.
Hi Editrix, Yes, I'm aware of the complex issue of what causes a low and high rate of rape in certain countries. In S Africa though, criminality has been rampant the last few years, so they could put a big dent in the rape rate just by catching and imprisoning a few of the criminals on the loose. BTW, I know from someone who lives in Kenya that the police there often just shoot robbers and rapists when they are caught, and say they tried to resist arrest or escape. The reason is that with tribal and clannish thought patterns there, the criminal will escape or somehow evade justice, and the tribe or clan will retaliate against the police and victims if the guy is alive and, of course, swearing he's innocent no matter the evidence.
Also, I know that the Germans are especially interested in the rape subject. How do I know that, you ask? Every time a GI raped some German woman, German media brought up how American GIs raped more often than German soldiers did. Sometimes the woman had dual citizenship, and then it was an international incident times two, except the other country was never half as outraged about it as Germany was. (BTW, Americans are surprised at how often Euros have dual citizenship since if someone becomes a citizen of America, they are expected to drop their citizenship elsewhere.) Similarly, statistics were brought up whenever a GI ran a German over in a crosswalk, etc. I'm sure that's one BIG reason the US and NATO moved as many soldiers and equipment out of Germany as possible right after the Cold War was over:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/u-s-and-nato-accelerate-military-build-up-in-black-sea-region/
excerpt: In the post-Cold War era and especially since 2001 the Pentagon has been steadily shifting emphasis, and moving troops and equipment, from bases in Germany and Italy to Eastern Europe in its drive to the east and the south.
Well, maybe this is because I am from the part of Germany that used to belong to the British, not the American, occupation zone, but in my entire life and as an avid follower of anti-American obsessions in my country I have never come across those rape discussions. How is such a comparison made? During WWII? Post WWII in Germany? Bundeswehr compared to US-Army? I know of rape cases that are politically exploited in an anti-American sense, but they happened abroad, say, in Iraq or whereever. Maybe those cases you mention were discussed in the Frankfurt or Nürnberg regions, where lots of American military used to be stationed, but I'll drop dead right now if I've ever seen anything like a special German interest in the rape subject in connection with GIs and German woman. Or in the rape subject at all. Or in any sex related topic, for that.
Besides, I don't see any connection between the numbers of rape cases in regions with a concentration of (regular) military in occupied Germany and the politically correct refusal even to discuss the high incidence of rape in a multi-culti wonderland like South Africa.
I'm afraid it's a bad investment. Once rapists get wind of this, they'll simply shove a stick in first and pull the condom out. And once they'll do this, nobody is going to buy the condom anymore.
I was there a few years before the Internet became popular, so it's not as though one could Google up those news stories easily now, even if I were good at Googling in German. But Das Bild (bild.de) was one of the rags that gave US soldiers bad press whenever there was a rape. The officers noted it was particularly bad since it sold all over Germany.
I heard after many of the US bases were closed that the German govt settled immigrant populations in some of them, and the local communities took an economic hit since GIs weren't buying things or renting apartments.
About GIs and local issues, the problem was mainly to do with the chronic American unwillingness to let themselves be judged by foreign courts. When a joyriding American air pilot drove his war machine through the cables of an Italian mountain cable car line, and twenty people died, nobody in Italy was satisfied to have the idiot tried by an American martial court and given twenty years, thus leaving the impression that, to the American military, one European civilian life was worth one year in jail. I am not anti-American, but this sort of thing makes GIs very unwelcome neighbours.
After WWII Americans were ahead of Euros in manufacturing for a while, but Europe and Asia are completely rebuilt and then some, and America is sinking into mediocrity in manufacturing, and has always been behind on educating its people, and keeping them healthy. It's time to pull our troops home and send them to college.
Since Europeans live a life of leisure compared to Americans, are way better educated, and have universal health care, having Americans protect Europe is just plain stupid.
It's no wonder that GIs do stupid things at greater rate than European soldiers do--like fly too low through a mountain valley with cable cars. Why would Euros expect anything better? But because Euros want to maintain their lifestyle at American expense, their governments put up with the stupidity, and don't ask the GIs to go home, and maybe come back after they are better educated.
It's the same situation with the Japanese and Koreans, but not to the same degree. Overall they want the GIs to remain so they can spend all their money on education and health care and infrastructure, and not spend it on the military, while many locals want the GIs out:
http://www.slate.com/id/2105295
Obama's US Federal stimulus money helps out dog trainers and breeders in Germany:
26 Jun 2010
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2010/jun/26/new-k-9-officer-reporting-duty/
excerpts:
JANESVILLE — Rock County sheriff’s deputy Shawn Nolan can already credit some arrests to his new K-9 officer, Dex.
Nolan, the dog’s handler, had to undergo extensive training with Dex after the dog arrived from Germany.
The dog lives with Nolan, his wife and two children. He commands the dog in German.
To create the K-9 program, Capt. Jude Maurer said the sheriff’s office spent:
-- $10,000 to buy the dog using federal grant money.
That sounds a bit like silly season news to me. Do Americans really need to buy trained narc dogs from Germany? Also, the figures for the dog itself and specifically for the equipment of the car seem totally overblown to me. I got a new dog outfit for my car recently, so I have an idea what those top-of-the-range kennels cost, including those for police dogs. I'd say that 1,500 - 2,000 USD would have bought them the finest equipment, including water bowl.
And the handler doesn't have to "speak German" to the dog. Sit, stay and come sound very much like the German equivalents (Sitz, Bleib, Komm) and fetch would be "Apport". From the context the dog will quickly learn new words. They are not stupid. I am sure that the dog is trained to obey movements as well. For example, for "Komm" you pat the side of your thigh with the hand. To obey silent signals would be specifically important for a police dog (as it is for a gundog).
Hi Editrix, About the prices. There's list price and then there's retail price, and sometimes I think the govt always ends up paying the list price, and they always get "the best," and the best trained dog must come from Germany. They might also have to buy only from union shops per police and fire dept union agreements.
Think of it as perks. The unions know they can only be paid so much, so in order to get more benefits, they want gold-plated health insurance and only the best equipment and dogs. You can tell I'm not too fond of unions. Union intransigence and greed have shut down many manufacturing plants in the US, and waste a lot of money that could be spent on better things. Union leaders and members generally are not very enlightened.
Bribery and kickbacks in the US are a no-no, but bilking the govt for overpriced goods and services is still quite common. For example, I have a cousin that got a job managing a municipal park, and when she went to have a park bench installed, every contractor around wanted $900 minimum, while a good bench down at the home improvement center cost only $200. I guess all the contractors in the area knew each other, and tacked on an extra $500 per job whenever it's govt work. They probably came to that agreement over beer at some bar.
Editrix, no once it is learned where the money comes from (e.g. federal grants or insurance, etc.) it is not unusual for prices to go up.
What cuts the number of rapes down is a police force and a judicial that deals with the perpetrator. The next best thing is a female who is trained in self defense and preferably armed. I'm afraid the snap trap, if it really exists, will be gotten around by the determined rapist. If he is arrested, jailed, beaten to a pulp or shot, he will no longer be a problem. I'm not very sympathetic or tolerant of rapists, and I don't care if they had a bad childhood.
Why a state university hospital is so expensive to build--union only labor:
The union-only protection racket
by Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
June 27, 2010
http://www.jeffjacoby.com/7649/the-union-only-protection-racket
THIS IS THE KIND OF THING, Charlie Baker was saying one day last week, that "makes people crazy about state government."
The Republican gubernatorial candidate was standing near the site of the University of Massachusetts-Boston's forthcoming expansion -- a 10-year master plan for at least $750 million in new construction and renovation projects. On June 14, the University of Massachusetts Building Authority had voted to proceed under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), meaning that only workers who pay dues to a union will be hired for one of the largest building projects now in the offing. Since roughly 80 percent of the construction workforce in Massachusetts is open-shop (non-union), the PLA amounts to naked political favoritism for organized labor -- and a raw deal for everyone else. Baker condemns PLAs as unjust, and pledges to ban them in state contracts if elected.
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