Dr Sonnet Ehlers has created the female condom, called Rape-aXe, some 40 years after she met a devastated rape victim who was like “a breathing corpse”. “She looked at me and said, ‘If only I had teeth down there’,” Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time, recalled in an interview. “I promised her I’d do something to help people like her one day.”
The condom has jagged teeth-like hooks that latch onto a man’s penis during penetration. Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it. “It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it’s on. If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn’t break the skin, and there’s no danger of fluid exposure,” the doctor said.
Ehlers has been distributing 30,000 free condoms under supervision during the World Cup period. “I consulted engineers, gynaecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe,” she said. After the trial period, they’ll be available for about US dollars two a piece. “The ideal situation would be for a woman to wear this when she’s going out on some kind of blind date or to an area she’s not comfortable with,” Ehlers said.
Critics, however, say that the female condom is not a long-term solution. It is also a form of “enslavement”, said Victoria Kajja who is a fellow for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Uganda.
South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world. Women take drastic measures to prevent rape in South Africa, Ehlers said, with some inserting razor blades in their private parts. “I believe something’s got to be done... and this will make some men rethink before they assault a woman.”