‘Rape-aXe’: World Cup fans get barbed condoms

A South African inventor is seeking international donations so she can distribute 30,000 barbed condoms designed to thwart rapists ahead of the World Cup, to be held in South Africa in June.

Dr Sonnet Ehlers encountered fierce criticism from feminist groups when she first developed the 'Rape-aXe' anti-rape device five years ago and has not yet managed to bring her pet project into commercial production. It has never been tested on a live subject.

The Rape-aXe, as reported in the First Post in 2007 when it was called Rapex, looks like a thick condom – transparent, with rows of barbed teeth on its inside surface. Ehlers describes it as looking like a tampon, complete with applicator. It is intended that a woman would insert it into her vagina, where Ehlers says it sits, "very comfortable, very soft – she won't feel it".

If a woman wearing a Rape-aXe is raped, Ehlers believes, the device will latch onto the assailant's penis. She expects a would-be rapist to withdraw immediately in pain and surprise, taking the barbed condom with him like a sort of tag. Critically in a country with an HIV infection rate of almost 18 per cent among adults, Ehlers does not want her barbs to draw blood. She explains: "The hooks penetrate through the skin [but] do not go into the spongy tissue."

The Rape-aXe will now be latched onto the penis and can only be safely removed by a doctor. Speaking to Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) this month, the inventor said that, as the rapist reels with surprise, there should be an opportunity for his victim to "jump up and run".

Ehlers describes the assailant's subsequent plight: "He cannot run after you... [The Rape-aXe] attached to the penis during erection, and the penis wants to go back to normal and it can't... And he can't even get his manhood back into his trousers. He can't urinate because if he pulls the tip [of the device] to cut it off ... he pulls the hooks deeper into his body."

A key benefit of the device, Ehlers claims, is that it safeguards women from STDs and unwanted pregnancy. She also believes it will lead to more rapists being caught – as they are forced to seek help to have the device removed. "He cannot deny that penetration took place, because how did the condom get there," she observes.

The still-untested device caused a storm of controversy when it was first announced. There were many practical objections: the device might make the rapist angrier and more dangerous; several men might be involved; it doesn't actually prevent rape; rapists might check for the device and remove it; the device might encourage anal rape; it could be misused by women to hurt men who are not raping them.

But the overriding criticism was a moral one: women should not have to adapt to what has been dubbed a 'rape culture' in South Africa. Lisa Vetten, of the Centre of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg, said in 2007: "This is like going back to the days when women were forced to wear chastity belts. It is a terrifying thought that women are being made to adapt to rape."

That the device has even been contemplated reflects social problems in South Africa amounting to a humanitarian catastrophe. In a survey conducted by the country's Medical Research Council last year, one in four men admitted they had raped. Of those men, almost half said they had committed more than one assault. The report said gang-rape was often considered a legitimate form of male bonding.

Now as the eyes of the world turn to South Africa as it hosts the football World Cup, Ehlers is trying once again to launch the Rape-aXe – appealing for donations so she can manufacture and distribute thousands of the devices.

Whether or not the device is a sensible or appropriate measure, the eye-watering publicity it generates should at least raise the issue of rape in South Africa internationally. Ehlers told RNW: "Every 26 seconds a woman gets raped in South Africa... This is why I'm asking the world for donations to help us to get the first 30,000 condoms free of charge." ·