Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Rape Trap Like Snow Crash 'Dentata'

South Aftrican inventor Sonette Ehlers has invented an anti-rape device similar to one mentioned in Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. She describes the tampon-shaped device this way:

"Hollow inside and the inner wall of it is lined, and there we have got all our technology and little hooks which, upon forced penetration, will attach to the skin of the perpetrator and only a medical doctor can remove it.

He'll have to turn himself in, so he's marked for immediate identification."

Over 1.5 million rapes occur every year in South Aftrica - one of the highest rates in the world.

In his 1992 novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson gives YT, a female character, a similar device called a "dentata" to use:

...a very small hypodermic needle slipped imperceptibly into the engorged frontal vein of his penis, automatically shooting a cocktail of powerful narcotics and depressants into his bloodstream.

Legends and stories surrounding the vaginus dentata or "toothed vagina" have been around for centuries in cultures all over the world. In the Middle Ages, some Christians believed that witches could grow fangs in their vaginas. (Although very rare, teeth can actually be found in vaginas; dermoid cysts are formed from the outer layer of embryonic skin cells, and these cells are able to mature into teeth.) The term vagina dentata was created by Sigmund Freud as a part of his theories concerning castration anxiety.

The anti-rape device faces considerable opposition in South Africa, where it is due to go onsale in drugstores and supermarkets next month. Charlene Smith, prominent anti-rape campaigner, states "This is a medieval instrument, based on male-hating notions and fundamentally misunderstands the nature of rape and violence against women in this society."

Read more at South Africa 'rape trap' condemned; see also Vagina Dentata. Thanks to Ray Girvan for contributing the tip for this story (and to Adam for the extra quote).

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/12/2005)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 19 )

Related News Stories - (" Lifestyle ")

Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...' - Chris Boyce, 1967.

Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...' - Daniel Suarez, 2012.

Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores
'... all round the city dozens of cars have rented out their trunks, which contain cigars and scotch and stuff.' - Karl Schroeder, 2019.

Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea!
'... he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'

It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'

Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'

ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'

Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'

Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'

Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'

ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?

Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'

Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'

Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'

Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'

3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'

DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'

How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'

The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.