Anti-Rape Lingerie Gives Would-Be Sexual Offenders an Electric Shock

In India, one woman is raped every 20 minutes. A team of engineers, however, is looking to stop attacks and unwanted physical contact from occurring altogether. Automobile engineering students in India have developed a line of anti-rape lingerie that has the ability to shock an assailant up to 82 times and contact authorities automatically. The lingerie is called Society Harnessing Equipment (SHE) and it comes equipped with a shock circuit board near the breasts. Manisha Mohan, a co-developer says that the lingerie can emit a shock up to 3,800 kV and uses GPS and GSM to send messages to parents and police. 

The team hopes to interface the system with smart phones using bluetooth and infrared. Once the pressure sensor has been activated, a signal would be sent via bluetooth to parents or police. The three engineers placed the sensor near the breast area because studies indicated that is where women are most likely to be attacked first. Right now Mohan is focusing on making the lingerie washable by partnering with students at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. 

photo of SHE courtesy of ibtimes

The team of three, Mohan, Rimpi Tripathi and Neeladri Basu Pal worked on the prototype at the SRM University in Chennai. They are hoping to manufacture the product for commercial consumption by sometime in April. The Times of India reports that the three began working on the garment following the Dehli gang rape which ended in the death of a 23-year-old student and another rape of a worker in Bangalore. 

These engineers don't want to have to wait for the culture or government to change, instead they are taking their safety into the own hands. The use of technology to prevent rape is something we've also seen in South Africa. Dr. Sonnet Ehlers invented a condom with teeth that latch onto a man's penis during the commission of a rape. The condom is inserted by the woman like a tampon. During intercourse the teeth lodge onto the man's penis, once that happens the condom can only be removed by a doctor. Much like the SHE device, a woman would wear the condom out to a place where she felt uncomfortable.  

By no means should anyone require the use of anti-rape technology to avoid being raped, but these inventions reflect the reality individuals face on the ground. Until people can learn not to rape, these tools will continue to be important weapons in the fight against rape culture.