( This is an excerpt from the mail sent by my sis, Navanita)
A South African inventor unveiled a new anti-rape female condom that hooks onto an attacker's penis and aims to cut one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.
The device, made of latex and held firm byshafts of sharp barbs, can only be removed from the man through surgerywhich will alert hospital staff, and ultimately, the police.
It also reduces the chances of a woman falling pregnant or contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases from the attacker by acting in the same way as a female condom.
South Africa has more people with HIV/AIDS than any other country, with onein nine of its 45 million population infected. Ehlers, who showed off a prototype on Wednesday, said women had tried it for comfort and it had been tested on a plastic male model but not yet on a liveman. Production was planned to start next year.
I would love to hear your views on this - what do you think? Do you think this will reduce the frightening statistics on violence against women? DO you think this will deter rapists? What about gang rapes? What about rapes during war? What about rapes on women living in refugee camps with no orvery little access to resources?
10 comments:
Well, can wild animals be tamed?
Maybe this kind of condom, to a substantial extent, reduce the incident of rape, provided that these are easily available.
Well,what about the little kids who are merilessly raped? How are they going to use it?
Maybe,if girls are born, fitted with such condoms, then it might scare away the creeps...
How are we going to prevent girls and women from being raped by their own family members or someone they know? Does it, then mean they need to wear the condom 24hrs?
Well, the comment ' can wild animals be tamed' - I would say nothing would work unless we do something to prevent rather than having a anti-rape condom. It may deter a very small percentage of rapists whom women/ girls don't know.
Sexuality issues(not the sex education only) should be part of of the education systems for young ones.
This will come as a surprise.During my tenure as a school teacher in Jamshedpur,I had suggested to the principal about stating a sexual education programme.She looked at me aghast, must have thought me to be a weirdo.
I guess,the state should make it mandatory to include sexuality issues in the curriculum so that these so called 'puitanical' souls take it up with their children in school.
As much as I agree with both Shiv and Moumita about sexuality education, what about the millions of out-of-school children and young adults? What about the parents of the in-school kids? What about the communities around each one of us?
The other question that I have is are we practising what we are preaching? how many of the "liberated" parents discuss sex and sexuality in a way which is comprehendible by their kids? How many parents express their own sexuality in a way which is a role model for their kids?
How many of us have really attempted and are trying to break the confounding silence around sex and sexuality? And how many of us easily take the 'culture' argument?
It is indeed ironical that sex and sexuality is a taboo subject in Indian household,considering that Manu And Kamasutra originated from here.
Just wanted to corroborate what I said earlier about communications between parents and children on sex and sexuality. Read the following and thought of sharing...
Aug. 16, 2006 (Toronto) -- High school students are more likely to use condoms if they think of their parents as understanding and supportive, a new study suggests.
The findings serve as a reminder to keep an open and trusting dialogue going with your children, even if you think they're already getting all the safe-sex messages they need from the Internet, TV, and their teachers, says Mark Wainberg, PhD, director of the McGill AIDS Centre in Montreal, Canada.
"Parents must be honest with their kids. If you skirt the issues, you'll shortchange yourself and them," says Wainberg, who was not involved with the work.
Researcher Stevenson Fergus, PhD, of Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, tells WebMD it's particularly critical that moms get involved.
"We found that both moms and dads play a role in the sexual behavior of their kids. But if there's less support from the father, the amount of support from the mom is really important," he says.
Girls Less Likely to Practice Safe Sex
The study, presented here at the XVI International AIDS Conference, involved nearly 2,000 ninth- and 11th-grade students enrolled in the Canadian Youth, Sexual Health, and HIV/AIDSHIV/AIDS Study.
The students, about evenly split between girls and boys, ranged in age from 13 to 21.
Supportiveness of each parent was measured separately, using two tests with the same five-item questionnaire.
Researchers asked the teens whether they thought their moms and dads understood them, whether they had a lot of arguments with each parent, whether they felt their moms and dads trusted them, whether each parent thought of the child as important, and whether their moms and dads expected too much of them.
The Findings
Among the findings:
Only two-thirds of students with low levels of support from both their mom and dad used condoms during their last sexual encounter, compared with about three-fourths of those with high levels of support from both parents.
Students who had low levels of support from their dad, but high levels from their mom, were just as likely to use a condom as those with high levels of support from both parents.
Overall, girls, older students, and foreign-born children were less likely to have used a condom the last time they had sex, compared with boys, younger kids, and those born in Canada.
Sexes Respond to Safe-Sex Messages Similarly
Fergus says he did not expect the parental support issue to be the same for boys and girls. "You would think that support would differ depending on sex, with boys more likely to need support from their dad, and girls from their moms," he says.
But Laura Skolnik, senior technical officer with Family Health International's YouthNet Program, didn't find that surprising.
"In many communities, it's more often the moms that talk about issues like sex and provide their kids, no matter which gender, with a moral backbone," she tells WebMD.
Ms. or Mr. Anonymous - how is the lik u snt relevant to the discussion we are having on this particular issue? Pl clarify.
Well, Nb,we have transgressed from our discussion.What do you say?Talking about the birds and bees to one's child will not wipe out the crime of rape.Nor will the use of such condoms.The need for the hour is awarding death sentence to the criminal or following what Ms.Ahluwalia of London did to her abusive husband.
We should also seruiously chalk out ways and means to wipe out the incident of rape commited on the backward section,I mean the vagabonds and the street children.Remember, even little boys are not spared.
I know junglee ways should be dealt with junglee means - hence bobbittism is ok to that extent.
I would not call the vagabonds and street children/youth as backward - they are the unfortunate lots. Had they got the same opportunitites as you, me, him, her, them...they too would have been part of the so-called 'mainstream' society!
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