Tiny Wearable Will Help Protect Women From Sexual Assault

When it comes to accessories that help women fend off sexual assault, we have more direct damage kind of accessories like pepper spray and tasers. Then we also can preventive devices like rape whistles and alarms that are meant to draw attention in hopes that it will scare the attacker off.

Enter Athena. This is a device made by Roar for Good that aims to put a wearable on women to help them fend off sexual assaults. Apparently the idea here is that because it can be worn as a necklace or clipped onto a belt that it is accessible from anywhere on your person. It also means that it can be discreet so that you can send out a silent alarm so as not to alert the attacker, like in cases of domestic violence.

According to the company’s co-founder Yasmine Mustafa, she was inspired to create such a device while backpacking in South America. Speaking to Mashable, “As amazing as [the trip] was…literally everywhere I went I would hear of a time where a woman had been attacked.”

She then describes how a neighbor had gone outside to read her meter when she was beaten up and sexually assaulted. “When I read the news story the next day, that’s when the idea for ROAR was born.” Athena will emit an alarm when pressed, but like we said there is an option for a silent alarm mode.

In both cases, a text message along with your location will be sent to people you set on your list to let them know where you are, just in case they are nearby and can help, or so they can inform the authorities. The device is currently on Indiegogo where it has since exceeded its funding goal of $40,000, but if you’d like to get in on it, you can.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gadgets, Videos (web)
Tags: Crowdfunding, Indiegogo, Wearable Tech