Nail polish can serve to empower women
Do you remember those mood rings you used to wear in third grade? The ones that promised to tell you whether you’re feeling sad or happy just by changing colour on your finger?
Now, imagine a version of this that might protect you from sexual assault. Recently, this became a reality.
“Undercover Colours” is a project gaining steam, both financially and in the media arena. Created by a team of students at North Carolina State University, it’s a nail polish that changes colour when coming into contact with GHB, Rohypnol, or Xanax, alerting the wearer that someone has slipped a date rape drug into their drink.
While date rape drugs are used in only a small percentage of sexual assaults, the ability to detect them makes those incidents 100 per cent preventable. Many in the media seem to think promoting this product is just another type of victim blaming – that it tells women it’s their fault for being sexualized and assaulted. I’m here to tell you this is wrong.
If you are sexually assaulted, it is never, ever, your fault. Never. There are no circumstances in which it’s your fault.
And no, it’s not your job to stop yourself from being raped. This is something that inventors of Undercover Colors also stress. Ideally, we would live in a world where people wouldn’t rape and would respect each other’s bodies. Ideally, we would live in a world full of only good people who did the right thing, but we don’t.
The term “rape culture” has been thrown around in this debate. It’s something that would take me a long time to explain properly here, and I’d recommend taking one of Dal’s great gender studies courses if you want the full picture.
To boil it down to basics, it’s the normalization of rape and sexual assault – that it’s ok to say things like “I raped that exam,” or “Dressed like that, she’s asking for it”. It’s feeling bad for the ruined futures of promising young athletes after they’re caught gang raping a passed out girl on camera. It’s blaming a victim, telling them they shouldn’t dress the way they did, drink so much, walk or behave like that. It’s wrong.
At a time when rape culture is at the forefront of a number of public debates, many so- called feminists have come forward to speak out against Undercover Colors, saying it oppresses women instead of empowering them.
“Why should it be a woman’s job to not get raped?” They ask. “Shouldn’t we just teach men not to rape?” Yes. Yes we should. This is vital, as many young people aren’t properly versed in what real consent is. At the same time though, it’s important to understand that taking measures to protect yourself doesn’t make you weak or part of the problem.
The people using date rape drugs are fully aware what they’re doing is wrong, and they choose to do it anyways. It is never your responsibility to prevent rape, but not taking steps to protect yourself in the world in which we live currently is dangerous.
People who know they are infected with contagious viruses have a moral obligation to stay at home to avoid infecting others, and society should continue quarantining dangerous cases and pressuring people to make the right decisions, but that doesn’t mean you should skip your scheduled vaccinations.
Remaining aware of the reality of the world we live in is empowering in that we can take active, personal steps to protect ourselves and know that we’re safer and more secure because of them.
I am empowered enough to know that bad things happen and I can’t watch my drink every single second that I’m out. I’m empowered enough to know that there are people out there who are going to wait until my guard is down and then try to take advantage.
I’m empowered to take steps to protect myself against sexual assault. I’m empowered to speak up when I think I’m in trouble or when I see someone who needs help. You should be too. If you see something suspicious, speak up. That girl at the bar who looks like she’s in a bad situation, ask her if she needs help.
On a stronger note, speak out against rape-normalizing jokes and language. Empower others by empowering yourself and understand that being safe and smart doesn’t make you weak, it makes you just that: safe and smart.
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