Femdefence Anti-Rape Device

One of my students pointed me to the Femdefence site, based in Sweden. According to the site,


The project Femdefence is an attempt to contribute to the debate on men’s sexual violence against women in society, using the esthetics of design, and the semiotics of marketing.


Here is a schematic of their hypothetical "rape prevention device," found here:



Here is a video made as a part of this project. The second half is probably not safe for work.



It's sort of along the lines of the whole pseudo-Freudian "vagina dentata" idea. The video really freaks me out.



Just to clarify, this isn't an actual product, it's an art/commentary project. I assume this is too.

Thanks, Velanie W.!

6 comments:

  Anonymous

April 5, 2008 at 2:31 PM

Speaking of vagina dentata, here is another design for an "anti-rape" device, that is based on that idea

http://www.rapestop.net/

  Anonymous

April 5, 2008 at 3:36 PM

I guess that would work if the vagina were just an empty cylinder. But given that it kind of bends and fold in on itself, I can't imagine you wouldn't just hurt yourself.

And what's NSFW?

  Anonymous

April 5, 2008 at 3:46 PM

hey....not related, but in milwaukee, there is an ad on some of the busses with a computer animated picture of a pregnant adolescent boy with words similar to "it should be just as disturbing if it were a girl" and i found it really offensive. it's interesting how it relates to thomas beattie and those previous ads about teen pregnancy......i'm not in milwaukee anymore, but if you know anyone there, you should try to get ahold of a photo of the ad, it would be good for this site.

  Anonymous

April 6, 2008 at 1:30 AM

This is a bit scary, the video certainly is. The whole time I was left wondering, what about anal rape? This kind of device could also lead to more violence, especially when gang rape is being committed...hmm I'm not sure?

  Anonymous

April 6, 2008 at 1:39 AM

I am not sure....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_safe_for_work
maybe?

  Gwen

April 6, 2008 at 6:15 AM

Oh, yes, Not Safe for Work. Sorry!

Just to be clear, this is just a conceptual art piece, not an actual product.

Thanks for the additional sites, though! I'd LOVE to find the ad from Milwaukee, but I don't know if I'll be able to--I'll give it a try, though.