Before my big move to college last year, I can’t tell you how many times my mother told me how I had watch my drink at all times while out with my friends. My mom had good reason to be badgering me with this crucial piece of advice: according to the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman is sexually assaulted every two minutes. Not surprisingly, there is a market for anti-date rape products … such as the first reusable anti-date rape straw.
According to Shalom Life, two Israelis developed the straw, which can sense ketamine and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), the two most widely known date-rape drugs used throughout the world. The user only has to sample a small amount of the possibly-spiked drink in order to mix it with the testing solution in the straw. A chemical reaction then occurs, making the solution cloudy or colored, depending on which type of drugs was placed into the drink.
I know my mother would consider getting me an anti-date rape straw. But while theyinterest me as a clever, new invention, what really needs to change is rape culture. Straws that can detect date rape drugs are well and good. But I want to live in a world where women aren’t encouraged to spend money on products to prevent them from being drugged and raped.
Would you buy a straw that can detect date rape drugs in your drink?
Contact the author of this post at Daley@TheFrisky.com.
