Innovating the Problem Away? A Critical Study of Anti-Rape Technologies

Abstract

In the context of expanding preventative strategies for addressing sexual violence, we are witnessing the emergence of an array of new anti-rape technologies targeted at women. These tools, promoted primarily through the Internet, include a variety of apps for mobile phones, signal- and alarm-emitting wearable technologies, and internal and external body devices. Based on analyses of websites promoting such instruments, we critically examine these devices with respect to their possible benefits, limitations, and unintended physical, social, and legal consequences for women. We suggest that unanticipated outcomes may undermine both victims and their cases, those the technologies are ostensibly designed to help.