Drug detecting nail polish: brilliant or blameful?

By: Alexandra Tobalin -Undecided

Recently, four college students who attend North Carolina State University invented a scientific nail polish that has the ability to detect many common date rape drugs such as Rohypnol, Xanax and GHB.

The polish is meant to benefit women by providing them with a means to protect themselves from becoming victims of rape.

All they have to do is simply dip their fingers into their drink. If the nail polish changes color, then the drink has been tampered with.

This may seem like a good-hearted effort to curb sexual violence against women, especially since the product was created by four male students, but, in reality, it appears to place the blame on women.

Women should not have to wear such a thing just to ensure their safety. If this nail polish continues to receive high publicity, then people are going to accuse women of not taking the right precautions in protecting their bodies, when, in rape cases, the blame is 100 percent on the culprit – not the victim.

The idea of the nail polish may seem helpful, especially among female college students, but it goes hand-in-hand with the issue of women’s dress code.

There are so many instances where women have been sexually violated and the blame is placed on them because “they asked for it by what they were wearing.”

Not only is this idea completely absurd, but it could not be further from the truth.

As a woman, I take pride in my body and what I choose to wear. I do not get dressed with the intention to seduce men or to “ask for” anything to happen to me.

Now, I know it may seem like the focus of rape is on females when men experience this as well, but the percentage of male victims is far less than that of women, and the dress code controversy targets the female population.

It is so common in this day and age for both women and men to go out on the weekends to parties or bars, and often girls like to get dressed up with their friends to add to the fun.

However, that’s just what it is, fun: Nothing else.

There are times when women like to dress cute in order to impress men, but that goes along with having a good time out.

It is never a woman’s objective to have a man attack her.

This debate has been an issue for a long time, with a lot of people blaming the action of assault on how girls look.

But it comes down to this: we should not be to blame if men can’t control themselves.

It is completely ridiculous to place the fault of such a horrific act on something as harmless as clothing.

Plenty of men dress in ways that make women think they’re extremely attractive, but we contain our thoughts and don’t forcefully act upon them.

It’s ironic that people are trying to brainstorm inventions on how to help women protect themselves from sexual assault instead of coming up with ways of stopping men from committing such a crime.

With the popularity of creations like drug detecting nail polish, society is further placing the blame on women and ignoring the total dominating role of men in these situations.

If our generation continues with this practice, what’s next?