Credit: AR wear/Indiegogo
According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics about 91% of sexual assault victims are female and only 9% are male. The preponderance of statistical evidence shows us that women could benefit from some form of extra protection on them whenever they are going out at night alone, or in the company of people they have just met or when visiting a foreign country.
A study by Sarah Ullman from the University of Illinois at Chicago says that resisting assault through forceful intent or non-forceful measures increases the overall chance of avoiding completion of the rape act. “The fact that rape was defined as a crime committed mostly by strangers until the mid-1980s, most rape prevention efforts were focused on telling women to restrict behavior.” This view was widely criticized because it paints women as helpless victims and promotes restriction of their movement. Current statistics also tells us that most victims of violent sexual assaults are not committed by strangers but people the victim knows and very often in the home.
This has led AR Wear to develop a special clothing line that can act as a solid barrier for women so that they could passively resist any assault when things go out of hand. Their goal is to offer a wide range of wearable items that includes all kinds of underwear, traveling shorts, running shorts and the like that is appropriate for different scenarios and for different users. The challenge for them was to design products that are easy to wear and very comfortable while at the same time still be quite effective in stopping an assault. The garment must pose a major difficulty for an attacker to remove by force or by stealth when the victim could not resist due to drunkenness, was drugged or asleep.
The solution according to AR Wear is strengthening certain elements of fabrics for the purpose of creating a strong, tear proof and highly durable material which remains soft and adapts to the shape of the body so that it could be worn beneath athletic wear or an evening dress comfortably and with ease.
How it Works:
Credit: AR Wear
The thighs, waist and central region are safeguarded by state-of-the-art tear resistant straps. The wearer can comfortably adjust the girth of the waist and then securely lock it in place using a special lock which in effect makes it impossible for any attacker to pull it down. The fact that the waist of the woman is usually less than that of her pelvic region, the waist strap could be locked securely in a comfortable manner. Thigh straps prevent the attacker from lifting or shifting the undergarment to the sides and finally the central panels are attached to the thigh and waist straps so as to provide a cohesive protective membrane that will make the attacker wish they had not done what they did.
In this day and age where assailants are taking more and more sophisticated means of luring women into dangerous situations, products such as this special undergarment line can be a life-saving measure. AR Wear understand this and is seeking crowdfunding for their new wearable technology. While it is true that we cannot really totally eradicate situations where sexual assaults may occur, knowing that we can have this simple product to protect our loved ones allow us to sleep better at night.
