#21942: Dr Pretorius — 04/14  at  01:37 PM
What if we look at it and just think "Hey, what an amusing idea. I bet that would be really funny if put to use"?

I mean, hypothetically.

#21945: — 04/14  at  01:40 PM
"It's only a little prick..."

#21948: — 04/14  at  02:19 PM
It is funny that when I looked at it, the design seemed to have IKEAesque' quality to it. Turns out the designer is Swedish?!

#21950: — 04/14  at  02:23 PM
putting some teeth into the ol' vagina dentata, huh?

#21966: DouglasG — 04/14  at  03:26 PM
You had better not use it backwards...

#21967: — 04/14  at  03:28 PM
Since NN has already broken the ice with a reference to a web comic, I thought I'd link to this strip from Something Positive. Check out the last panel:

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04072005.shtml

#21969: — 04/14  at  03:49 PM
Have to say, ever since I saw it at feministing a few hours ago, I've been wondering... how would you insert the thing?

KMarissa

#21971: Orac — 04/14  at  04:10 PM
I suspect it would be relatively easy to insert, as the spike faces out. Taking it out would be the difficult part.

#21973: — 04/14  at  04:32 PM
See, taking it out would be easy because of the hanging string (just pull)... But (without being too graphic, if I can help it), how do you push it in without being impaled? I conclude that you'd need some tamponesque applicator device.

Surely the fact that I'm thinking about it THIS much is a sign that I should be doing real work right now...

#21974: — 04/14  at  04:32 PM
I had a similar idea. My design is a hollow tube with thin
flexible spikes facing inward. Insertion is easy, but upon withdrawl the spikes set and the tube goes with
the rapist.

I may have been inspired by Julian May's Golden Torc series
of sf books. The series features a humanoid race whose women have a second set of teeth and *never* get raped.

#21975: Ron Sullivan — 04/14  at  04:33 PM
Orac, have you never inserted a tampon? Ow, my finger! But maybe this is a matter of brand preference.

I think the device would require an inserter, like those little tubular things some brands of tampons come in. I also think it had better be spring-loaded; as it looks in the picture, I know I wouldn't quite trust it if I were to, oh, bend or sit down or, well, several things I can think of. Things bend, you know? But if it works in such a way that pressure on the bottom end makes the spike spring out, it might be feasible. Mechanically speaking, anyway.

#21976: — 04/14  at  04:34 PM
"I had a similar idea. My design is a hollow tube with thin flexible spikes facing inward. Insertion is easy, but upon withdrawl the spikes set and the tube goes with
the rapist."

Oooh! Chinese finger trap style! Er, not *finger* trap per se...

#21997: coturnix — 04/14  at  08:14 PM
Hmmm...vulva blogging continued. But this one hurts!

#21998: — 04/14  at  08:39 PM
OK, I admit it. I read the comments before clicking on the link. Then whimped out and decided *not* to go there at all, thanks very much. I think I've got the point. Yikes!!!

#22004: — 04/14  at  09:00 PM
Insertion probably isn't the problem. The problem is: how do you get it out without snagging it on something? Maybe you're not supposed to move around while wearing it, either. Boy, it would sure suck to impale myself on the inside. GAH. Wait a sec. Aren't products tested before they go out to market?

#22006: Orac — 04/14  at  09:22 PM
Here's another big problem with such a device.

Presumably any rapist would impale himself on the spike of this device. He would then bleed all over the place. Being in pain and pissed off, he would also probably be very rough getting away, thus increasing the chance of vaginal trauma. If the rapist has hepatitis B or HIV, then his injury could put the woman using this device at a high risk of contracting a disease. There would be a higher chance of a direct contact between the rapist's blood and the victim's blood.

#22016: ang6666 — 04/14  at  10:26 PM
Now now PZ ... this is nothing to give you nightmares over. You seem a decent sort of person. And this is intended for those that would harm women.

#22020: — 04/14  at  10:46 PM

And this is intended for those that would harm women.

ISTM that the point is that the device would harm women, even if it did harm those who were doing additional harm. It seems like yet another of those devices which haven't been properly thought out. It doesn't give me nightmares, it just makes me wonder about the level in the gene pool in which a woman who would considers something like this is floating.

#22022: — 04/14  at  11:26 PM
Relax, Stan -- as some people pointed out above, it's probably a, er, pointed illustration rather than an actual invention. Though I supposed we'd need someone to translate from Swedish to find out for sure.

Still, if it were spring-loaded .... hmmm.

#22024: Andrew Brown — 04/15  at  12:43 AM
OK: here's the Swedish:

Femdefence is an art project that attempts to contribute to the discussion on male sexual violence towards women. The project uses the aesthetics of design and the symbolisms of marketing to transmit the idea of a shield against rape.

FemDefence is not just a project. It is also the name of the imaginary product which has been designed to give form to our ideas of protection. The "product" is a shield, like a tampon, which the woman should wear in her vagina. The shield is equipped with a needle that would damage the man in a rape. The design of the protective protuct builds on a similar device invented by a woman named Anita Ingmarsdotter, which she started after one of a humber of celebrated rape cases. The trial was typical in many ways: the accused escaped adequate sentences; the victim was badly supported by the justice system and blamed for her own rape in the course of the trial. Anita Ingmarsdotter's action was a logical reaction to a criminal justice system which many people believe works badly. In the project, the idea of the protective product and the story of her actions become symbols for some of the aspects of rape. The project has been presented in many ways since 2003. It has been shown in installations as if it were a prototype for an industrial design. FemDefence has also appeared in advertisements in the daily papers, at bus shelters, and as commercials. [linked to http://femdefence.info/film1.html ]

For those who have seen the film, there was an opportunity to find out more through an earlier version of ths web site, which had an email address for me. After the advertisement was published in one of Sweden's biggest daily papers in 2003, many people got in touch with me. To judge from their reactions there a great many people who have got involved not just by writing to me but by talking to their friends and neighbours. Fifty of their letters are here [ http://femdefence.info/opin1.html ]

... but I'm not translating all those -- acb.

#22025: Andrew Brown — 04/15  at  12:46 AM
Incidentally, the artist responsible is male.

#22103: Ereshkigal — 04/15  at  05:47 PM
Good grief! Do you suppose a rapist would already have gotten pretty far into the assault before he discovered that his victim had armed herself? Or that the victim would be in a particularly vulnerable position by that point, and might be less able to thwart a truly enraged and injured rapist?

On the other hand, this device would be a dandy conversation piece at the pub on darts night.

#22113: — 04/15  at  10:49 PM
No wonder Swedish guys are so cold, timid, frigid. And I thought it was the climate...

#22116: Ben — 04/16  at  04:23 AM
I think you're missing the point. All you need is the widespread suggestion that such a device exists to send scumfuck rapists scuttering home with their tails between their legs at the thought of a considerably widened urethra.