FemDefence

From Femdefence

An idea for a rape-protection device

The project Femdefence is an attempt to contribute to the debate on men’s sexual violence against women in society, using the aesthetics of design, and the semiotics of marketing.

Femdefence is an on-going project first presented in 2003. The project includes the creation of an imaginary product, which bears the project’s name. The “product“ is a kind of protection against rape, somewhat similar to a tampon in that it’s user carries it inserted into her vagina. The basic idea is that the woman carries the protective device in her vagina. In it there is a sharp pin which has a penetrating effect on the perpetrator’s penis in the event of a rape. The construction is such that the pin still cannot injure the bearer. The design of the design is based on a similar construction invented by a Swedish woman named Anita Ingmarsdotter. She came to work on her invention after a series of rape cases in Sweden that received a lot of public attention. Typically, in many of these cases, the accused do not receive an adequate punishment, and the abused women are left without appropriate support from the judicial system. All too often they, in the perpetrators place, are burdened with guilt. Read more about her in the interview.
Her actions are a logical response to the malfunction of the judicial system in a country many consider to have reached a high level of equality between the sexes. What she did was an indication on the situation of women in Sweden, and outlines the public opinion in these issues. The idea for the rape-protection device and the woman behind it have functioned as symbols for the debate on inequality between the sexes and men’s violence against women. The project has been exposed in several ways and in several locations. It has been the object of exhibitions leading the thoughts to how industrial designers present their prototypes. Furthermore, it has been presented in the form of TV-commercials, newspaper advertisements and in outdoor billboard advertising. For anyone who has been interested there has been the opportunity to find more information and contact me through e-mail on an earlier version of this web site. After I had a full page advertisement published in one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, Expressen, I received a lot of reactions. Looking at the response, it seems that many people took concern in my work not only by writing to me, but also by discussing it among themselves.

Unbalanced Response

Tribune photo/Terrence Antonio James

A fatal shooting took place today not far from where I work, where police shot and killed what they’re calling ‘an aggressive panhandler’ who threatened a passerby with a large knife. An officer was accidentally shot in the chest but his body armor absorbed the shot and he was not seriously injured.

Police turnout in the city was extremely impressive yielding many squad cars and ambulances. Even Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis turned out to give a speech. Between forty to fifty officers of the law where present after the shooting, although for what purpose, one can only assume. The only civil servants that seemed to be assisting were paramedics tending to shocked witnesses.

How many police turn out for shootings that take place on the Southside of the city, as one example of districts practically under seige from violent crimes in the city of Chicago? When does any gun violence receive such attention anywhere in the slums, or the poor neighborhoods? While gangs run loose, shooting people in front of churches, hitting mothers whilst they push their children home, commuters in downtown areas can enjoy more police officers per block than any other area of the city.

Walking into the Richard J. Daley Center as I do on a daily basis, I can see no less than six cops attending one metal detector. Downstairs in the basement where I was sent to turn in my camera, a device not permitted in the building, (puzzlingly no such precautions are taken against cellphone cameras) I find three cops performing what can only be described as attentive functions in the line of duty, that is, handing out slips of paper so one can claim confiscated items at a later time. And with no disrespect to the ‘differently weighted’ amongst us but I would be surprised if more than a few of those cops would be able to extricate themselves out of their chairs without help, let alone attend to a crime of any serious description.

I feel that the over-abundance of police officers at today’s event is indicative of the general attitude towards crime in this city. Affluent denizens of the business world – we will indeed protect and serve you. Lower income areas – you’re on your own.

Social armour

When I’m watching people, I like to remind myself once in a while of what
they might look like underneath.

How noble, imagining people naked, you say.

It’s not quite like that.

Every so often I’ll catch sight of un-tattooed, un-augmented, un-tanned,
un-clothed skin, maybe a few strands of hair on an arm, or a bare ankle,
poking out beneath the fashion uniform of the day. It reminds me that there
is a actually a whole live person under all that make-up and apparel, under
all the piercings and ambiguous Chinese symbols and Palestinian-style
neck-scarves and Castro caps and Capri pants. I’m usually too perplexed
and confused by the barrage of fashion paraphernalia to see any of the
person underneath, so when I do get a glimpse it’s refreshing.

Someone told me that it seems to matter a great deal to me how I am
perceived by others. I think there’s some truth in that, certainly. But
when I see what appears to be the general populace ‘expressing themselves’
visually, traipsing around the perpetual catwalk that is the city streets,
I can clearly see that a lot of thought has been invested into creating
just the right image, and the subsequent manufactured and arguably false
perception of what they want other people to think of them. It seems a lot
of people care about what other people think of them, else they wouldn’t
work so hard to look elicit such specific reactions.

I think it would be fascinating to take away those uniforms, remove the
‘social armor’ so to speak, and then see how people would live and
interact.
Would one still be ‘emo’ if one removed the dark clothing and cut ones
hair, or remain a neo-hippy if Gap stopped carrying flowery dresses?
Would one still walk around Modern Art galleries looking at collections of
cat litter and dead dogs if you didn’t have a woolen fedora? Or does one go
around modern art galleries looking at collections of cat litter because
that’s what woolen fedora-wearing people are supposed to enjoy?