Social media and news outlets alike have picked up on what may be one of the most revolutionary women’s products in recent history – and no, it is not a magical anti-aging potion.
Four men studying Materials Science & Engineering at North Carolina State University have created the product Undercover Colors, a nail polish that changes colors if it comes in contact with a date rape drug when the wearer of the nail polish stirs her drink with her finger.
Although the nail polish is not yet for sale, support is already rallying around Undercover Colors on its many social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Since its emergence onto the public radar, upwards of $10,000 has been raised from personal donations for research and development. According to their Facebook page, the company wishes to raise enough money to hire an additional chemist to speed along the research and development process.
In an interview with Higher Education Works, a bipartisan organization that promotes public investment in North Carolina higher education, Undercover Colors team member Ankesh Madan states that the ultimate goal is for the nail polish to be available to the consumer.
“Near-term, we’re focusing on technical development and market testing,” he said. “We plan to focus on business development and refining our prototype before going to production.”
The creators brand their product as “empowerment through discrete functional fashion,” but is this really the best way to prevent date rape?
As women, we should have the right to empower ourselves but we should not need to empower ourselves. Date rape prevention measures, such as date rape prevention nail polish, may end up lowering the number of women who are raped, which would be good news.
However, it will not lower the number of times men attempt actions that lead to rape. Prevention techniques that involve the potential victim needing to take action promote a culture of victim blaming, in which it becomes the victim’s fault that she was raped, not the attacker. For the chances of women being raped to truly be reduced, the public’s view of rape must be altered to believe something very basic: rapists instigate rape.
While many men never attempt rape, we would welcome the day when women would not have to take preventative measures, such as using Undercover Colors, to ensure their safety. To change the number of date rapes attempted, we should be able to have the expectation that all men will choose to be decent human beings and simply not rape.