The media world is lit up this morning with the headline catching story of four male college students at North Carolina State Univ who have developed a nail polish that can detect the presence of popular date rape drugs in a drink. The media is also feasting on reports of the reactions of various feminist critics and rape prevention advocates to this news item and the rather sensational way that it is being presented by the media.
Why Rape Prevention Activists Don’t Like The New Nail Polish That Can Detect Roofies
A group of four college students is taking the media by storm with the development of an innovative nail polish that can detect date rape drugs that have been slipped into young women’s drinks. While the new product has captured its fair share of headlines over the past week, sexual assault prevention advocates warn that it’s not necessarily the best way to approach the sexual assault epidemic on college campuses.
Four male students at North Carolina State University have created a nail polish that changes color when it comes into contact with several common drugs intended to incapacitate victims. According to the undergrads, their goal is to “invent technologies that empower women to protect themselves from this heinous and quietly pervasive crime.” Although the product isn’t available yet, their Facebook page has already been flooded with positive responses from people who can’t wait to give it a try.
The response isn’t entirely unprecedented. Products that promise to help women detect the colorless, odorless “roofie” drugs have become more popular in recent years. And more broadly, anti-rape tools to help women protect themselves from potential predators have become increasingly prevalent.
Although these products typically get a lot of press and are sometimes hailed as complete breakthroughs in the fight against sexual violence — “Soon, a fresh manicure could have the potential to save your life,” the Daily Mail proclaimed in a story about the new nail polish — activists working in the field aren’t convinced. They believe innovations like anti-rape nail polish are well-meaning but ultimately misguided.
The criticism is based in the much broader campaign to shift social and legal attitudes from placing the blame and responsibility for rape on the victim for having failed to prevent it to placing it on the rapist for having committed a crime. Drugs such as roofies are illegal. Possession of them is a crime. Putting them in someone's drink is a crime. Forcing sexual intercourse on someone who has been incapacitated by such drugs is a crime.
These conversations in the media about rape and responsibility typically end with advocates for victims saying that the responsibility is misplaced and something ought to be done to shift it to where it belongs. The people trying to put putting the responsibility on women have a laundry list of suggestions for preventing rape. It seems to me that it would be useful to have concrete suggestions for ways to change the behavior of boys and men. There are no shortage of programs to train girls and women in self protection. We seldom hear about comparable programs to impress on boys and men the risk that they occur by engaging in illegal activities that could lead to being convicted of a crime. Probably the reason that we don't hear about such programs is because not many of them exist. That is likely because in the present legal and social climate boys and men perceive the risks of getting caught and convicted as generally low.