OPINIONS. Need to vent? Contact the editor at opinions @theotherpress.ca Dress for success? Anti-rape shorts are not the secret to a rape-free life Sharon Miki, Columnist Rows this year’s string of sexual assaults at UBC (and the subsequent local media coverage of them), it seems that discussion of sexual assault and young women’s agency in their own sexual assaults has become a hot topic. Good news, right? Wrong. While we should indeed be talking about the underlying rape culture that exists in our society and how to combat it, it seems that more and more focus has been placed on how women can prevent having other people rape them. A perfect and so-bad- I-wish-it-was-a-joke example is AR Wear’s latest in bizarre and misguided initiatives, “Anti- Rape Clothing.” AR Wear is a “multinational development team” that is seeking crowd-sourced funding via Indiegogo (as of writing, they have raised more than $40,000 of their $50,000 goal) to produce a line of so-called “Anti-Rape” panties, shorts, and leggings. Essentially, Anti-Rape Wear is a series of tight-fitting garments, which women wear either alone or under clothing, that can be “locked” by the wearer—with the hope that should the wearer be attacked by a rapist, the rapist will become so frustrated by the complex nature of the clothing that they will abandon their quest. It’s a modern-day chastity belt. Certainly, I believe that the creators of Anti-Rape Clothing are well-intentioned— even though AR Wear does unquestionably serve to profit from women’s fears. A watch of the campaign’s video and read of their marketing materials demonstrates a pretty earnest and sincere intention. I believe that the creators of AR Wear do want to help prevent rape with their weird shorts—the problem is that I also believe that in the real world, this line will do more harm than good. The basic premise of Anti- Rape Clothing is that most rapes happen by surprise and by strangers. If this were the case, then I could see the rationale that having another barrier between your surprise stranger rapist and your vagina could slow them down or deter them (though, even if the locking mechanism were impenetrable, it would not prevent an assailant from assaulting other parts of your body). However, according to statistics raised by the Justice Institute of BC, 80 per cent of sexual assaults occur in the victim’s home and 70 per cent The Truman Show The reality of IV Reflecting upon it later, though The Sunple Life is Ena definitely one of the worst, -§ Wilkins I have to broaden my scope ' ports Feller to include all reality TV. Why do we watch it? Why Give weeks ago I was do we watch other people sitting around with a humiliate themselves or few good friends, watching some of the most God-awful TV crap we could find and having a hoot about it. At some point, The Simple Life found its way onto the screen. For those who are unaware, the show featured Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie doing minimum wage jobs. Whether it was due to the company or my level of inebriation, I was entertained; and I was more or less horrified with myself, as a result. 16 subject themselves to harsh conditions and challenges? Written like this, watchers come off a bit base and boorish. But is it really so baffling? Human beings are curious creatures. Reality shows offer a glimpse into other people’s lives. While stating that society is made up of natural voyeurs seems a little disturbing, isn’t that essentially what’s going on? The irony is that most of reality TV isn’t real, of rapes are perpetrated by someone known to the victim. With the vast majority of rapes happening in your home and by someone you know, are you expected to wear a locking girdle at all times? In this way, I feel that products like Anti-Rape Clothing are actually more dangerous to women than they are helpful. Even if you do everything “right” (the Anti- Rape Clothing tagline is “A clothing line offering wearable protection for when things go wrong”), you're still about as likely to be raped as any other woman. So, did you do something wrong if you shell out the money for a pair of Anti-Rape shorts and still got raped by a friend in your home? Is it your fault? While not explicitly stated, I believe that this implicit victim-blaming is the very real and dangerous result of telling women to stop rape by being “cood,” by not drinking, by not dressing a certain way, or by not going certain places. We shouldn’t make women feel like they can stop other people from assaulting them if they do things right—because they really can’t. What we really should be spending our time, money, and effort on is teaching people what rape is, and that it’s not okay to rape. and one can discern this by the simple fact that people genuinely find it entertaining. Real life isn’t always fun to watch. Seeing Bob go to the office at seven in the morning, do some work, grab lunch from his usual place, work some more, and then go home is hardly eyes-glued-to-the- screen programming. Which leads to the real question: are people aware they’re being duped and go ahead with it anyway, or has the boob tube done what our mothers have always warned of and turned brains to mush? Example: Mantracker. Fun show. I used to love it. I get the draw. A guy who looks like Sean Connery on a horse tracking down two elusive competitors through difficult terrain in varying weather conditions. Thrilling! You see the chase every step of the way, with both sides feeling the pressure of the situation and struggling through. But Mantracker was ruined for me the day I decided to take two seconds to consider what was going on. All these close-ups of the runners and the trackers at the same time, indicating that the filming is being done by a third party. Now, I’m no expert here, but for the quality of video and audio on the program, you would probably require a decent camera and mic. Such equipment is likely a burden Anti Rape shorts | Photo courtesy of www.policymic.com and is less than ideal for full out dashes across open fields while evading capture. Along with this, one has to take into consideration how the cameraman (though likely plural) would have to be as fit as the subjects being filmed. And a final note that—again, no expert here—if I were a tracker I imagine I’d appreciate an extra set of footprints to follow. In the end, producers will continue to put out garbage and viewers will continue to flock to their screens like hipsters to American Apparel. While irrelevant to the money makers, the “why” of it all should still invite our introspection as a society.