'Condoms with teeth'

2005-09-01 08:49

Chantelle Nicholas

Cape Town - Early next year women will be able to buy condoms that will have to be surgically removed from a rapist's private parts.

Sonette Ehlers, designer of this condom, said it would help empower women.

She said she has been considering the idea for Rapex, the "condom with teeth", for the past 20 years.

"I had the idea after visiting a hospital and speaking to a rape victim. The expression on the woman's face had such an impact on me and she said to me: 'If only I had teeth down there'."

Ehlers said the thought stayed with her and she started making plans to help women in such situations.

She said women would be able to easily apply the condom by using an applicator. It will also not fall out.

"As soon as the man puts his penis in the woman's vagina the condom catches it. The "teeth" of the condom then penetrates his skin and causes severe pain. The man will have to go to a hospital to have the condom removed," she said. It will also collect the rapist's DNA.

- Die Burger