Women look for protection after May atrocities

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): While victims of the May rapes are struggling to deal with the nightmare, some women have decided to protect themselves against sexual assault with something most of them had never set eyes on.

They are using chastity belts, or antirape corsets as they are locally called, similar to the ones female members of the Victorian royal family wore when their husbands were away at war.

"I don't mind using a chastity belt if it really protects me against rape," said Anita, not her real name, a Chinese- Indonesian working in a public relations agency.

She does not own a chastity belt but is considering buying one after reading about it in a newspaper.

"I think it's important to protect myself... we can't trust someone else, not even the police, to protect us after what happened (in the May riots)," said Anita.

Reports claim that about 160 women, mostly Chinese- Indonesians, were raped and 1,200 people killed during the unrest.

There are rumors that fresh riots will break out this month, creating further public anxiety.

Singer Oppie Ariesta supports women's need to arm themselves, but has no interest in owning a chastity belt.

"There are many protection devices, such as tear-gas sprays. Maybe it's about time to make them readily available so that women can use what suits them most," she said.

The local version of a chastity belt was introduced by Simon Sanjaya in January 1996 and was extensively promoted after the May riots.

He said he produced the device to help women protect themselves. It is inconceivable that women would walk around with knives or guns because they could end up in jail for carrying a concealed weapon. And it is impossible for women to only venture outdoors with their fathers, brothers, husbands or boyfriends to protect them all the time, according to Simon.

"Modern women want to be independent and they need a practical device to protect themselves," he said in a phone interview from his store in Bandung.

So far, he said, many women, mostly Chinese-Indonesians from Jakarta, have bought the item at Rp 110,000 each. His buyers range from those as young as nine years old to those of 60 years old, he said.

"I sell around 20 belts a day," Simon said, boasting that his devise is healthy and would not harm its users.

Made of 0.6-millimeter stainless steel tailored with artificial leather to fit the waist and groin, he said the chastity belt was made to fit the body of its user and was supposed to be worn without any underwear at all. Interested buyers should go to his shop in person.

Each chastity belt has a combination lock. Users should not forget the combination while wearing the devise or they would have to have it removed with pliers and then buy a replacement.

Controversy

The introduction of chastity belts has also raised controversy among women.

Saparinah Sadli, of the Civil Society on Violence Against Women and a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, questioned whether it was true that many women were interested in buying the devise.

"Those who sell such things are only trying to take advantage of other people's suffering. If they want to help, that's not the (right) way," Saparinah said. "I wonder where they got the idea (to make chastity belts)."

"And it's hard to imagine that women would be willing to wear such a thing," she added.

Noted lawyer Nursjahbani Katjasungkana said rape was a crime that was difficult to anticipate and the chastity belt could only be used as a precaution.

"But it's difficult to completely accept (the use of chastity belts). There's no guarantee that a victim (wearing a chastity belt), once subdued, would not tell her attacker the combination," she said.

She said she declined to recommend the use of the chastity belt as requested by its inventor a year ago.

Using a chastity belt, she said, was against her principles, saying that the main problem lies in the way people consider women to be sex objects.

"By using a chastity belt, it means that we back such thinking, that women are sexual objects, that rape happens because of women... that women should be restrained and made uncomfortable," Nursjahbani said.

"It also means that our womanhood is being used to punish us, to make us uncomfortable," she added. "In the meantime, the rapists are free, there's no efforts to stop them. Instead, we're being punished... it's all the other way around."

In the Victorian period, she said, husbands made their wives and daughters use chastity belts to prevent their wives from having affairs and their daughters from violating norms and religious values.

"In my opinion, the use of chastity belts at that time was already against the presumption of innocence... it was suspected that women would have affairs or violate norms...," Nursjahbani said.

She suggested that instead of promoting the use of chastity belts, it was much more important to improve people's awareness of the need to respect other people's rights, including women.