Controversy has struck Undercover Colors, a nail polish that changes colors when it detects date rape drugs. Many believe that this effort to prevent rape will actually shift the responsibility onto women and blame victims for their assault. But, it is possible to reinforce the notion that victims are never at fault, while doing what we can to reduce the risk of future rapes.

Undercover Colors was devised by an all-male group made up of four North Carolina State University undergraduates. According to the group’s Facebook page, the men invented the nail polish because they want to make potential predators “afraid to spike a woman’s drink because there’s now a risk that they can get caught.”

It is important to care for current victims, but also equally important to try to stop future rapes. Preventative tools can be good resources for combatting the rape problem that our society faces.

As with all other efforts to combat rape and sexual assault, Undercover Colors is clearly well meaning. But, it does have its flaws. In reading its product description, one will note that there is not a complete knowledge of rape or rape culture.

For example, on its Facebook page, it says a woman can “ensure her safety” by using the product, which can imply that a woman who doesn’t use Undercover Colors might be at fault.

Even if a woman doesn’t use Undercover Colors, sexual assault will still never be the fault of the victim. Rape is always 100 percent the fault of the rapist. Tools like these can lower the risk of rape. But until we start educating people about what rape is and the value of respecting another person’s body, it will never be completely eradicated.

The notion that any preventative tool is inherently reinforcing rape culture and victim-blaming is very flawed. It’s completely possible for a victim to recognize that they are not to blame for their rape while still seeing that tools like this can help prevent the further victimization of themselves and others.

As with all products and measures intended to stop sexual assault, there needs to be continuous discussion about the fact that victims are never at fault as well as resources for victims to seek medical attention.

Restructuring a lot of the underlying beliefs in our society that allow rape culture to flourish will not happen overnight. This is why preventative tools are a necessity as we strive to end this problem.

Mandisa Shields is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter
@mandisashields.

Published on September 4, 2014 at 12:11 am