This fall, a new clothing line, AR Wear, will introduce a line of shorts meant to protect the wearer from rape. The company reports that the underwear is resistant against “pulling, tearing and cutting” and can only be removed by the wearer.
According to the company’s IndieGoGo, Inc. fundraising page, “As long as sexual predators continue to populate our world, AR Wear would like to provide products to women and girls that will offer better protection against some attempted rapes while the work of changing society's rape culture moves forward.”
While the company undoubtedly has the best intentions at heart, many wonder if the marketing for the product is suggesting, intentionally or not, that women are the ones responsible for preventing rape.
Like many controversial issues, there are always two sides to the argument. In the case of rape, however, it is shocking to me that there would even be the faintest idea that the act of committing a crime such as rape would ever be argued as easily preventable by women. Women shouldn’t need to be concerned about sending a wrong message to men or seeming promiscuous enough to suggest such an act.
“No means no.” should be enough for any potential rapist to back off, regardless of any “mixed signals.”
AR Wear comments that “a woman or girl who is wearing one of our garments will be sending a clear message to her would-be assailant that she is NOT consenting. We believe that this undeniable message can help to prevent a significant number of rapes.”
It seems there is a bigger issue at hand here if a woman feels in order to be safe against a rapist she needs to resort to “rape-proof” underwear.
A common counterargument is that women put themselves in certain situations to be raped by drinking too much or wearing suggestive clothes. Often in cases of rape, especially those reported in college, people will claim the victim could have prevented the rape by not getting “black-out drunk” or being so “slutty.”
We need to teach people that rape is always a crime. There are no mitigating circumstances. Rape is never the victim’s fault. Consent should not be presumed or acted upon unless there is a clear, unambiguous agreement willingly given between both parties.
AR Wear has good intentions, but the company is helping to perpetuate dangerous myths about rape. We shouldn’t be telling women what to say, how to act or what to wear in order to prevent rape. The conversation should start with parents and teachers reinforcing the most basic kind of rape prevention: teaching people not to rape and emphasizing the importance of consent.
Reach the columnist at kassidy.mcdonald@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @kassmcdonald
