We’re all for rape prevention, but when you can’t stop the crime, why not score immediate payback with the help of a little latex and some barbed plastic? That’s the idea behind rape-prevention condoms by RapeX. Basically, if you feel like you may be in danger one evening — exploring a foreign city alone, getting walked home by a cute stranger you just met—you put the device into your nether regions with an applicator, and anything that gets all up in your space will be gnarled by the barbs. They’re made of plastic, but those suckers have a nasty bite and will need to be surgically removed.

We hope you’ll never have to test out the RapeX, but we can pretty much guarantee the jerk on the receiving end won’t get very far once his man bits are being ripped open by your hidden defenses. [RapeX]

Confession. Sometimes when I go on a really successful shopping binge at, say, a store like Charlotte Russe, where I literally pilfer the racks of all their amazing awesomeness, I’ll declare, “I totally raped the Russe today.” Yes, raped.

I am not the only person who uses the word “rape” to describe something other than sexual assault. Mikki Halpin says the word is rapidly becoming a popular term within pop culture, from Taylor Kitsch on “Friday Night Lights” using it to describe a bad audition and viewer assessments of Jon Stewart’s critique of Jim Cramer’s financial predictions. She writes:

“Increasingly, rape is used to describe experiences such as a sports loss, a poor score on a video game, or being on the losing end of a business deal. Again, these are all unpleasant experiences, but none rise to the level of what rape truly means.”

Sarah Palin. Remember her? Despite Levi Johnston’s TV talk show circuit tour having ended, the Alaska governor is still under the microscope. Wayne Anthony Ross, Palin’s nominee for Alaska’s state attorney general, is facing accusations of supporting marital rape. Leah Burton, a veteran lobbyist on children’s issues and domestic violence, told the Alaska State Judiciary Committee that Ross said in a 1991 speech—given in front of the “father’s rights” group Dads Against Discrimination—“If a guy can’t rape his wife, who’s he gonna rape?” Hmm, is this the kind of “common sense” Jack was talking about? Burton also claims Ross once said, “If a woman would keep her mouth shut, there wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence.” Ross denies making these statements—“I don’t talk like that!” he says—but rumor has it Palin may withdraw her nomination in order to save face. [The Daily Beast]

How’s this for an evil/nonsensical “trend”—in South Africa, the number of lesbian women who’ve reported being raped to “cure” them of their gayness is on the rise. “What we’re seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them,” said Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive of Triangle, a gay rights organization. Additionally, local authorities are not classifying these attacks as hate crimes when the women report them, nor are they taking significant steps in trying to solve these cases or curb them. These crimes are hardly few and far between, especially in a country where incidents of rape against women in general are disturbingly high.

Sure, we’ve seen other video games, like Grand Theft Auto, where players can sexually assault the female characters, but as offensive as that is, at least it’s not the objective of the game. But a Japanese video game called “RapeLay” has the sole purpose of allowing players to virtually rape women. The player stalks the female character in the subway station as she waits for the train—I’m already creeped out—and can virtually “pray” for a gust of wind to blow up her skirt and reveal her underwear. And that’s just the beginning.

In an essay published on Nerve.com, Matt Morse writes about the time he roofied his wife to save their marriage. “Roofie” is the slang term for Rohypnol, commonly known as the date rape drug. Before getting married, Morse and his wife had an adventurous sex life filled with role-play, but after marriage, he writes, “our fantasies would have to be safe, like the rest of our over-insured suburban existence.” Before she requested that he participate in her date rape fantasy, Morse and his wife hadn’t had sex in three years. When she proposed the fantasy, Morse doesn’t even blink, his mind immediately wandering to cover the details.

“To drug and abduct my wife — but which drug? Television seems to have convinced her that date-rape concoctions are ubiquitous, as if I could just run to the nearest GNC or have a box overnighted from a website in Mexico. The latter might be true, but I’d prefer not to add my name to any FBI lists. So while she’s in the bedroom, I rifle through the medicine cabinet and find a stash of giant pink pills — some sort of narcotic from the dentist — and throw a small handful into the coffee grinder. Decisions, decisions. My costume, my fake name, my fake identity — there is so much that has to be just right. Konked-out victim? Her part is child’s play. I’ll be the one who has to drive the conversation and strike the proper balance between charming and sinister, all the while maintaining some sort of backchannel of actual attraction. I douse myself in aftershave and begin humming the jingle, or what I remember of it. “There’s something about an Aqua Velva man.” Oh yes, there is: He drugs strange woman and drags them back to his lair.

Last night, instead of watching “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters,” I opted for slightly more intellectual but no less drama-filled fare and watched Masterpiece Classic on PBS, hosted by Laura Linney. This week, it was part one of “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” based on the novel by Thomas Hardy. I was enthralled, and I can’t wait for the conclusion next Sunday at 9pm.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about a story on Politico.com that reported the Obama campaign was seeking a rape victim for a campaign ad that would attack Sarah Palin’s stance on abortion. (The VP nominee is anti-choice, even in cases of rape or incest.) According to the Politico piece, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, served as a conduit between the campaign. Since running that post, we hadn’t heard any further information on whether the Obama campaign did indeed find a woman for their ad, but I just came up on the video above, via The Huffington Post. The ad features a rape victim, who became pregnant as the result of her attack, addressing Palin about her stance on abortion. This ad, however, was put out by Women Against McCain-Palin and it doesn’t have the “I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message” sound bite at the end, so it’s not affiliated with his official campaign. Regardless, the video above is extremely compelling.

Don’t forget, the Vice-Presidential debate is tonight! Get your popcorn ready! In the meantime, here’s the latest clip from Katie Couric’s interview with Sarah Palin, in which the Alaska Governor sets the record straight on her position on abortion.

According to an email obtained by Politico.com, the Obama campaign attempted to find a rape victim to cast in a campaign commercial that would allow the Democratic Presidential nominee to discuss his stance on related issues. According to Politico’s Jonathan Martin:

The Obama campaign wouldn’t detail the strategy behind finding an individual to discuss such a sensitive topic but did suggest the ad may be aimed at underscoring their candidate’s support for abortion rights and ongoing effort to retain those women who backed Hillary Clinton in the primary.

All this has led to discussion over whether seeking out a rape victim to tell her story in order to further a political agenda is appropriate. After the jump, some thoughts from Megan at Jezebel.com and Ann at Feministing.com, as well as my own gut reaction.

Peter Hitchens’ brother is writer Christopher Hitchens (who penned the book “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”), so it should come as no surprise that mouthy, attention-grabbing runs in the family. Peter Hitchens just wrote an opinion piece in London’s Daily Mail entitled “How The Left Censored The Blindingly Obvious Truth About Rape”. That “truth”, Hitchens says, is that, “women who get drunk are more likely to be raped than women who do not get drunk” and “a rape victim who was drunk deserves less sympathy.”

One of the sites I read quite frequently is Jezebel. I wrote for them for a little while before I launched The Frisky and really respect them as a cool and smart site for women. Many of their posts I find to be laugh-out-loud funny and others make me think deeply about and even reconsider positions I have taken on issues. But lately there’s been some controversy on the site in regards to the issue of rape and I thought I would bring them up here to see what Frisky readers think. In particular, I wanted to discuss the question of whether a rape victim has a moral obligation to report her attack(er) to authorities.

CNN has a fascinating and heartbreaking story of a girl who posted a video on YouTube alleging that she was raped. In the video, a 16-year old girl cries, “Hi, my name is Crystal ... I need some help. I didn’t want to do it this way, but it’s the only way I know that’s going to work, that someone out there in the world is gonna listen to me.” It seems Crystal, who did go the police about her sexual assault, decided to bring her story to YouTube after her case was dropped by her State Attorney’s office.

Starting next year, rape victims who are reluctant to go to the police can get an anonymous emergency-room forensic rape exam, and whatever evidence is gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges. This is an extremely important step, as many rape victims who don’t go to the hospital after they’ve been assaulted because they don’t want to be forced to go to the police. This allows them to ensure their own health and safety while still leaving the option to press charges in the future rather than having to decide right away. [AP]

One of the many stupid ways to waste your time on Facebook is by sending people “flair”—basically little icons users can put on their profile pages that represent their interests (i.e. a piece of flair of Harry Potter naked, or a piece of flair stating your love for boxed wine). But you can also send people flair that promotes rape! Like all of the ones above! So not funny right? I suppose the people behind the “Flair” application thought that rape was just like any issue, with a pro side and a con side and since they had so many anti-rape pieces of flair, they need to have some pro ones as well. Leave a message on the application’s wall, if this pisses you off. [Facebook: Pieces of Flair via Feministing]

Kids grow up so fast these days.  By 3rd grade, I had definitely played pretend bride, but a girl in Yemen was forced to do it for reals. At the bold age of eight, her parents married her off to a man over four times her age. It’s all fun and games until someone gets raped and beaten. Abandoned, alone, abused, what is a girl to do? Be her own superhero. Nojoud Mohammed Ali (no relation to the fighter) is a champion!  After escaping her husband’s home, she managed to find her way to a courthouse and asked for justice.  Thankfully, in court last week, she secured her freedom and is now possibly the world’s youngest divorcee, but definitely the world’s bravest baby girl. [ABC News]

I’ve watched soap operas since I was a wee one—my first memory, practically, is of Luke & Laura’s wedding on General Hospital, which incidentally took place on November 16, 1981, my 2nd birthday. Over the course of my 28 years on earth, I have watched for long , devoted periods of time, All My Children (back when Janet threw her twin Natalie down the well), Days of Our Lives (I’ve been there through Sami’s many, many ups and downs), General Hospital, One Life to Live, and The Young and the Restless (remember when Victoria slept with the guy she thought was her brother?). Soap operas are magnificent at being both really visionary and forward thinking—Stone’s battle with AIDS on GH, Ryan Phillippe playing the first gay character on OLTL, and the transgender storyline on AMC—as well as totally backward and dangerous in the messages they send. There is no better example of this than a current storyline on DOOL.