EDIT: Who really is responsible for assault

TRIGGER WARNING: The following editorial contains discussion on sexual assault and rape culture.

Indiegogo.com is legendary for fundraising millions of dollars for startups, innovative products and certain community causes. A group of designers in Nyack, N.Y. started a fundraising campaign on the site Oct. 13 for something they believe society desperately needs. They have invented clothing to safeguard women from sexual assault.

AR Wear, the “Confidence & Protection That Can Be Worn,” is a clothing line fitted with various locking, durable straps that prevent rapists from tearing off clothing with their hands or a knife. The pants and shorts can be worn under a formal dress, on a run, or out at a bar.

This is where this idea becomes problematic. While trying to wage war against sexual assault, these designers are perpetuating rape culture to consumers. These shorts force the idea that women should protect themselves from rape, as opposed to telling rapists not to rape.

Don’t get us wrong — anything to prevent sexual assault should be funded, but the way this product is presented is misguided. In an attempt to empower women, they advertise these shorts to be worn out on a first date with a stranger or to a club. They come off as a knife-proof solution to sexual assault that should be worn daily or late at night. Increasing discourse on sexual assault is important, but making women feel obligated to protect themselves from an evil world in which men lurk in every place to rape them does not solve any problems.

Rape culture is being talked about more often, which is necessary to help raise awareness of the repercussions of sexual assault. But these shorts divert the attention from the rapist’s decision to attack someone, and place the responsibility on the woman to protect herself. The shorts are also on the verge of scaring women into thinking that most rapists are evil men without empathy. The advertisements ignore the fact that sexual partners and friends can also be assailants (and very often are).

This is the next problem. The shorts are currently only geared towards women. Men are sexually assaulted as well. The project currently has just more than $38,000 in sponsorship and is nearing its goal of $50,000. Hopefully, by the end of their campaign, if successful, the inventors expand their advertising campaign and include men.

The idea for the product is not coming form a bad place, though. If you watch their advertisement — and try to ignore the fact that every model is in their mid-twenties and has a 24-inch waist — the product is convincing. A man uses a pretty large knife to try to cut through the chastity straps to no avail.

But it still always goes back to the initial thought regarding the state of our society, that we are at a point where people need to wear a spandex chastity belt to fend off rapists. We need to keep talking about sexual assault, but we also need to address how survivors are taught to think they could have protected themselves. The emphasis must move away from avoiding victimization and toward not committing such vile acts in the first place.