The Indian government is developing a wrist watch equipped with GPS and
a distress button. Can it help fight the plague of sexual violence?
In late January, the Indian government announced a new project
to fight the rampant sexual assault cases in the country: a wrist
watch. No longer just a fashion statement or functional timepiece, the
accessory boasts a built-in distress button that texts friends, family
and the nearest police station with the wearer’s GPS coordinates, and a
video camera that captures footage when the button is hit.
India’s information technology
minister, Kapil Sibal, announced the new development project a month
after the brutal rape and murder of a young medical student in Delhi
launched nationwide protests calling for change in the dysfunctional
methods of addressing sexual violence. The briefing notes describe the
project’s goal as “to develop indigenous product leveraging existing
mobile spread and availability to cater to the security needs of
people.” (Neither Sibal nor the government agency tasked with developing
the watch responded to requests for a comment.) The watch is one of
many tech-based solutions being crafted to combat rape and sexual
assault by governments and tech developers across the globe. But not all
activists are convinced this approach will work, and some are
questioning how effective technology can be in stopping horrendous
sexual assault cases like the one that shook Delhi.
Social
media and smart phone software is growing into its potential to bring
attention to, and even prevent, sexual assault and rape. Facebook and
Twitter have been used to track sexual attacks in war zones like Syria, and to encourage prosecution in cases like Steubenville,
Ohio. Hi-tech straws can detect the presence of date rape drugs in
drinks. But it is the mobile platform that shows the most potential for
combating an endemic of sexual violence across the globe.
Gail
Abarbanel, founder and president of The Rape Foundation, one of the
country’s oldest rape prevention and treatment centers, described the
Indian project as “more like a ‘rape in progress’ alert than it is about
prevention,” and says she hopes the government will turn its attention
on men. “In so many of these situations, rapes could be prevented
but not by the women who’s being sexually assaulted,” she said.
“Everything that’s ever been promoted to prevent rape focuses on the
victim.”
Yet
Abarbanel doesn’t reject the possibility of utilizing technology to
combat assault. The Rape Foundation recently partnered with tech firm
Possible to develop Safebook,
an app they hope to release by the end of the year. Safebook aims to
shift the burden to the friend, the bystander, the person that witnesses
assault by creating groups and allowing them to check in on members.
Its target demographic is college women, 1 in 5
of whom report being sexually assaulted during their four years on
campus. Realizing this susceptible group is spending most of its time in
the digital world, the partners hope to use social media campaigns to
target them where they’re most comfortable—similar to campaigns that
have already been successful for gay rights awareness and bullying.
As
activists work on changing mindsets, the Indian government is going
technical. The watch is expected to be ready mid-year and is expected to
cost between $20 and $50, which is quite steep for a market like India.
And in India, not all have been swept off their feet by the
announcement. Many believe the country needs to rebuild its foundation
of prevention methods. The biggest problem may be the apathy
authorities, and even civilians, hold toward sex crimes. One of the most
disturbing details to emerge in the aftermath of the brutal Delhi rape
came from the woman’s companion, who said the battered pair spent 20
minutes on the side of a busy road before anyone stopped. In Delhi, a new study
published by the International Center for Research on Women revealed
the startling prevalence of attacks. Almost 80 percent of participants
admitted to seeing a sexual assault take place, and only 16 percent said
they had intervened. Crimes are rarely reported, especially in the case
of young victims. In early February, the director of Human Rights Watch
in South Asia announced
that children who come forward after sexual abuse “are often dismissed
or ignored by the police, medical staff and other authorities.” And just
this week it was revealed that Indian police failed to investigate the rapes and murders of three young sisters.
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