A new type of nail polish has been created by a group of four students at North Carolina State University that detects date-rape chemicals in drinks; the person who’s wearing it just stirs the drink with their finger, then if the chemicals are present, the polish will change colour. Isn’t that fantastic? When I was in my late teens I had a drink spiked with something whilst on a night out. Thankfully I immediately knew something was wrong and got myself to A&E just to be on the safe side, but it was a terrifying experience and I do believe I knew how to react quickly as I was a Drugs Youth Worker at the time, so I’d spent a lot of time researching and discussing the effect and symptoms of drug use, plus I was with my boyfriend and friend so they were able to take me seriously and get me to safety ASAP. It was a scary, out of control experience; who knows what the result would’ve been had I not been lucky enough to get myself out of the situation? According to the Undercover Colors Facebook page, in the US, 18% of women will experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetime, which works out to be almost 1 in 5. Absolutely terrifying.
The four students – Ankesh Madan, Stephen Gray, Tyler Confrey-Maloney and Tasso Von Windheim – have declared themselves to be “the first fashion company working to prevent sexual assault” and on that basis I would guess they have other ideas in the pipeline. They hope to “make perpetrators afraid to spike a woman’s drink for fear of getting caught” which makes sense if it isn’t possible to tell whether someone is wearing the polish or not, so it’s extremely empowering. The company is still in its start-up phase so there doesn’t appear to be any news on whether there will be a line of different coloured polishes or just a topcoat that sits on top of other shades to change their colour, but it’s definitely a fantastic idea that you can find out more about on their Facebook page here – link – and you can donate to help them further their creations here – link.
*Images taken from their Facebook page.
Like you say… Very empowering
It’s such a fantastic way to deal with such a scary issue. I’m also quite impressed that it’s created by men! xx
Ihope it becomes widely available x
Fingers crossed xx