A False Sense of Security: A Feminist Content Analysis of Media Representations of Rape Prevention Devices

Abstract

Rape prevention products inscribe blame for rape onto female bodies and do not actually prevent rape. I will specifically examining three different rape prevention products: the Rapex condom, color-changing and drug-detecting nail polish, and rape prevention undergarments through a content analysis of the written media representations about these devices. Examining these products and the meanings and motivations behind their creation is important for understanding larger trends in the way rape prevention discourse functions, as well as understanding our society's ideas about what it means to be appropriately feminine. Rape prevention products and rape prevention discourse are mutually constructed. It is important to examine media representations of rape prevention products because of the influence these representations may have over the views and opinions of the general public when it comes to these products.