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Weapon for women safety
How can fear act as a weapon to attack the harasser for women?
If we talk about social causes today the most common one that comes to everyone's mind is women's safety. After so many movements, awareness programs, speeches, etc. some of the mindset is changed but not to the extent it was supposed to. Let's talk about some stats.
This was an idea that I worked on for a college project but recently got a chance to rethink and enhance the research I did then.
88
rapes cases take
place everyday (reported)
32k
Rape cases reported
in the year 2019
25 min
a new case is reported
in this time
India is the 4th most dangerous country for women to travel on public transport and one of the most dangerous to live in.
Role
UX Researcher
Duration
3-4 weeks
Status
Concept
Understanding the problem
The safety of women in India using public transport is scarce especially during night hours. It deeply affects women of all ages which has a huge impact on the families and the future of the victims. An ideal solution would be to provide a better environment for women to roam freely at any hour of the day.
What has been done till now?
-
Banning tinted windows on buses, more police on the streets for constant checks.
-
Helplines numbers and one-stop crisis centers to help women access police services, counseling, and doctors, etc.
-
Awareness campaigns, using social media as a huge medium to send a message.
-
Classes on sex education, and gender issues in schools.
-
Training for those working in public transport and monitoring drivers
-
Promoting to treat everyone equal at home and not on the basis of their gender
-
Laws made to protect women from any kind of sexual harassment or molestation
Understanding the emotion fear for a human being
The above mentioned long list of measures the country and the people are taking are not enough to save our women from the molesters which are between us, look like us and be with us we unfortunately cannot recognize them until we witness it.
The people who do this don't even think there is anything wrong with it since many men still treat women as an object. This is something which we as a society need to change.
When I was trying to think of a solution for this problem, I realised everyone is giving a solution when you are outside of the incident. Why are we not trying to prepare the women or atleast let them give a back up option before they can call for help or the help arrives.
There are have been thousands of cases where the victim called for help and rapist was captured too but after the rape already happened. This is not a solution for the victim as for them the damage has already happened.
As mentioned these rapists/molesters are human being like us they do have emotions, which I thought was something women could take advantage of during any such incident.
Their biggest emotion is fear at that time. Fear of getting caught, fear of doing something for which they cannot handle the consequences. If we could use this fear in them as a tool to protect the women it could be a lethal weapon.
How can we induce fear in Rapists and scare them away
If the person gets a sense of getting caught
Feels Powerless
Scared of
from his actions
Unaware of the surroundings
Paranormal
or unrealistic
activity
Insights
01. Confuse the person with your actions:
The moment a women is alone the rapists think they are scared, attentive and helpless etc. Make them believe the opposite show them you are prepared and have some back up, this will shock him.
02. Make him feel that he doesn't have control:
The male ego inside a rapist always makes them feel that the situation is in their control when a women is alone in front of them. They have a stronger physical strength and power to sexually molest her. Try to take that control away psychologically.
03. Reaching out for help in anyway possible:
Women should call for help the moment they feel something suspicious. As once things worsen the rapists make sure to not let you call for any help. If that scenario comes up shout, make noise, fight until you find a way to somehow connect with someone.
Note to self
It is sad that we have to think and research so deeply to prepare women for something like this, it would have been so simple if some men didn't intend to do what they do to create such situations.
What are the goals?
Accessible Product:
The situation in which women are is very delicate, so we cannot expect them to perform too many tasks to achieve the solution. It should be quick and easy to access.
Something unexpected for the attacker:
Creating a sense of shock on the rapist is very important, this may create a distraction for women and can give them time to retaliate .
Natural Instinct for the victim:
We have to try that the solution is not something for which the women have to learn a new skill for or need training in. It should come with ease so that when they are in the such situations they do not hesitate to apply/use it.
Before I move to solutions, below attached is a video I found which inspired me reach to some concrete conclusions and gave me validation for my research and outcomes.
Possible solutions
After my research I thought playing with the attacker's mind and distract them psychologically could be a weapon for women safety. Unfortunately, men usualy have more physical strength so other solutions may not work. Using their emotions like fear could be a possible solution.
Concept 1
Making the attacker scared of themselves
A woman is alone in a secluded place with a stranger
She feels unsafe and clicks on the emergency button
on her phone
This button sends an SMS to her friends and family and also informs the nearest police station that she might be in danger
Until then she tries to stop the attacker by showing him his own actions by switching on the front camera of her phone
Any human being is the most fearful of themselves, the person they become, or the action they are about to take they cannot run from themselves. If women can reflect it on the attacker by using a device it might stop him from molesting her.
Limitation: women get late on showing the reflection or maybe the attacker doesn't have that much conscience and doesn't care about how he looks while being so devious.
Concept 2
Paranormal activity
With help of facial recognition, these projections using a phone camera or a headgear could create unusual reflections on the woman's face.
If we can help women create an illusion of something paranormal or unusual happening with them. The rapists will get confused as to what is happening and may run away.
Limitation: If the attacker catches the trick in the illusion it may trigger more anger and rage in him to molest the women.
Concept 3
Protective Clothing
This solution is for the worse case scenario, when the rapists have grabbed you and try to remove a woman's clothes. Their could clothes designed with no tear material or complicated locks.
Limitation: this might make the attacker more angry and take extreme steps of killing or harming women in some other manner.