Last month, four male undergraduate students at North Carolina State University unveiled a special nail polish they created which, when dipped in a drink spiked with Rohypnol or GHB, two common date rape drugs, changes color.
It’s not the first product claiming to help prevent rape. The recent startup company AR Wear sells clothing which claims to be difficult for anyone except the wearer to remove—the company markets its clothing as being resistant to tearing and cutting, making it almost impossible for an attacker to take off. Last year, the company DrinkSavvy revealed it had developed a cup which detects date rape drugs.
These products have understandably received much media attention and praise. Women are always searching for new ways to protect themselves and their friends from possible attackers, and the claims these companies make seem promising.
According to data from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), one in five women who attend college will experience attempted or completed sexual assault during her college years. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that college women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than people in any other group.
Berry isn’t immune to this problem, either—four assaults were reported in 2012, according to the college’s 2013 Campus Security and Safety Report. Also, according to the AAUW, less than 5 percent of campus rapes are reported.
2013 data about sexual assault at Berry will be released later this month.
College women are certainly aware of the prevalence of rape. Most have either dealt with it personally or have had to help a friend deal with the trauma that comes with having experienced sexual assault. There is an unspoken agreement among college women. We drive each other back to the residence halls after late night study sessions, accompany each other to the restroom in unfamiliar areas and intervene when a man won’t leave our friend alone. The night before we moved in our freshman year, our mothers gave us rape whistles and taught us how to hold our keys in case we ever needed to use them as a weapon in a dark parking lot.
Anything that gives women more power in a potentially dangerous situation is a step in the right direction. Giving women a method of finding rape drugs does prevent possible rapes and tells women who they shouldn’t trust.
But this won’t be solved with some nail polish.
Rape does not occur because of what a victim was wearing, whether they were drinking or where they were going at what time and who was with them. Rape occurs because rapists make a decision to violate someone else without their consent.
It is not a woman’s responsibility to use a certain nail polish, bring a special cup to a party or wear rape-resistant clothing. She shouldn’t have to worry about being attacked as she walks to her car, goes out with her friends and performs her daily routines.
It is the responsibility of men to respect women’s right to consent, understand that silence is not consent and give women the right to say no. They should also speak up when another man jokes about rape—rapists look for affirmation from other men that their actions and choices are acceptable, and when they trivialize rape and other men laugh at them, they feel as though other men approve of what they are doing.
Rape victims are often blamed for what has happened to them or criticized for not doing enough to prevent the assault. Earlier this year, a Texas judge gave a rapist a 45-day sentence, claiming the 14-year-old victim was “promiscuous” and not “the victim she claimed to be.” Many women choose not to report their assaults, fearing that they will be similarly blamed.
Rapists are too often forgiven. Last year, two teenage boys from Steubenville, Ohio were found guilty of raping a teenage girl, then spreading photos and videos of the assault amongst their peers. CNN reported on the “promising future” of the rapists, noting they were “very good students” whose lives had been ruined by the verdict. A legal expert appearing on the CNN segment expressed concern about the rapists being listed as sex offenders, noting that it would be difficult for them to find employment and they may be judged by future neighbors who happened to look at the registry.
Very few rapists ever spend a day in jail—a RAINN analysis of U.S. Department of Justice data estimates that 97 percent of rapists receive no punishment. This poses a threat because rapists are often repeat offenders, leaving the women around them vulnerable. And criminal justice systems aren’t doing anything to find the rapists. According to the justice department, about 400,000 rape kits are currently just sitting on the shelves, waiting to be examined.
Rapists aren’t being held accountable for their decisions, yet their victims are being burdened with the responsibility of preventing assault before it happens. However, no matter what new technology women are provided with, they’ll never be able to guarantee they won’t be raped. There will always be people who decide to disrespect a victim’s right to consent and situations that arise when there is simply no nail polish or special cup the victim can use.
These new inventions also place women in a difficult situation. Currently, victims are blamed for what they were wearing when they were raped, who they were with, where they went, whether they were drinking and a number of other factors. If these products become commonplace, will victims be blamed for not using them? Will someone tell them they were “asking for it” because they weren’t wearing that nail polish or special clothing or using a drug-detecting cup?
The solution for the rape problem won’t be found in any product we can purchase—it is much more complicated than that.