Two years ago, we all read about the development of a nail varnish that is able to detect date rape drugs in a drink and change colour accordingly. However, with so many new scientific developments not making it past the concept phase, this one seemed like an ideal but distant glimmer of hope.
But after receiving a whopping $5.5m worth of investments, the nail-tech company responsible for the polish, Undercover Colors, has indicated that the product could finally hit the shelves in 2017.
The idea, which was originally created in 2014, initially came from developers at North Carolina State University, who wanted to help their female friends stay safe at night when dating and drinking at bars.
Apparently, “1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. This unthinkable problem has reached epidemic levels on college campuses and something must be done about it. Power must be handed back to women in what is a devastatingly powerless situation.”
How Does It Work?
Currently, the developers believe that the easily wearable tech will be able to detect the more common date rape drugs Rohypnol and ecstasy. But how?
It’s pretty simple – just “dip your finger into a verified beverage [we’re not sure what qualifies a drink as verified!] and within seconds the presence of prevalent date rape drugs will be identified in colour change.”
While lots of women will paint their nails before a night out, doing so with this product could supposedly save your life. Once you have dipped your finger in the drink and it notifies you that you have been spiked, you can notify the barman or call the police in the bathroom.
The man who spiked your drink will then get arrested for his actions, and will therefore hopefully be prevented from entering social drinking establishments ever again.
But there are just a few problems with taking this approach.
Is This Really The Solution?
Just as women are warned not to walk home late at night or put themselves in vulnerable situations, requiring a woman to detect date rape drugs to protect herself yet again places the responsibility (quite literally) in women’s hands.
Instead of challenging the behaviour and actions of men, we are told to adapt to them – it’s going to happen anyway, so you’d might as well be prepared. Boys will be boys, and we just have to deal with it.
And this kind of responsibility shifting happens on a daily basis in endless ways. But rather than accepting the problem and trying to just live it, we should be focussing on actually tackling the problem itself.
When it comes to the issue of date rape, this could be done by enforcing far stricter search policies for all entrants into a bar, irrespective of gender. Alternatively, technology could be developed by which such drugs can be detected with a scanner.
The development of a date rape detecting nail polish is promising and, of course, exciting to many, because it’s a very simple and usable concept, but it’s just another way of making women responsible for the sexually aggressive behaviour of men.
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