 Anti-rape campaigners in South Africa are outraged about a new invention intended to catch rapists.
| I thought they said they were anti-rape campaigners? |
The device, designed for a woman to insert, attaches itself to a rapist and has to be surgically removed.
| It's a cross between a chinese handcuff and an iron maiden. |
| I believe they're known as "vagina dentata"... |
Its inventor says this will help in the prosecution of the rapist. Critics say the invention represents a return to the days of the chastity belt.
| A friggin' chastity belt that acts like a Venus fly trap. |
| Does that mean that once it's in, the lady can't take it out? |
Some 1.5 million rapes occur in South Africa each year - one of the highest rates in the world. "This is a medieval instrument, based on male-hating notions and fundamentally misunderstands the nature of rape and violence against women in this society," said Charlene Smith, one of South Africa's most prominent campaigners against rape.
| Charlene is an academic feminist, not a practical one. |
| Sounds to me like they've got a pretty good handle on the nature of rape and violence against women. It sounds like she's just not happy with the idea of it having any consequences... |
"It is vengeful, horrible, and disgusting. The woman who invented this needs help."
| And the rapists need a .38 vasectomy. |
| Or to have his doinker gnawed... |
The inventor of the device, Sonette Ehlers insisted she did not hate men.
| Though there are a few she clearly doesn't like. |
"Something needs to be done, and women are crying out for me to go ahead," she told the BBC's World Today programme. Ms Ehlers has patented the tampon-sized device, and expects it to go on sale next month. Lisa Vetten, of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) said it was "a terrifying thought that women are being made to adapt to rape by wearing these devices".
| Not as terrifying as being raped, from what many rape victims say. |
| It's a terrifying thought that the gummint doesn't consider it important enough to deal with it, too... |
Ms Ehlers's critics argue that it would be better to educate men not to rape in the first place, rather than just to catch them after the deed.
| Oh, that'll work, I'm sure... |
| 'Educate' men? The sure way is to hang the first few perpetrators. The other men in town then get 'educated'. |
But the inventor insisted: "I'm not an educator - I will go for those they can't educate." |