Reuters has a report on a new invention introduced in South Africa that tries to discourage rapes against women. It’s a device that is worn inside the vagina like a tampon but when a penis is inserted into it, it supposedly latches onto the penis using small hooks and barbs, causing excrutiating pain which would in theory allow the women to escape and the rapist to be apprehended since it can only be removed from a penis using surgery:

[Its inventor Sonnette] Ehlers said the “rapex” hooks onto the rapist’s skin, allowing the victim time to escape and helping to identify perpetrators. The device, made of latex and held firm by shafts of sharp barbs, can only be removed from the man by surgery, which will alert hospital staff, and ultimately, the police, she said.

It also reduces the chances of pregnancy or HIV infection 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 one in nine of its 45 million population infected. . . .

But the “rapex” has raised fears amongst anti-rape activists that it could escalate violence against women. “If a victim is wearing such a device it may enrage the attacker further and possibly result in more harm being caused,” said Sam Waterhouse, advocacy coordinator for Rape Crisis.

Other critics say the condom is medieval and barbaric -- an accusation Ehlers says should be directed rather at the act of rape. “This is not about vengeance…but the deed, that is what I hate,” she said.

Obviously rape against women is a serious issue, apparently even more so in South Africa than in many other countries. I really don’t have a judgment about whether or not the device will work or not, but as a sociologist, I find it interesting that apparently, many anti-rape activists fear that the invention may do more harm than good if it enrages the rapist even more and leads him to inflict even more violence onto the victim.

It just goes to show that there can be multiple possible consequences -- many unintended -- for lots of things in life.