The garment generates an electric shock of 90 volts to the attacker that leave him stunned and allow the victim to flee

To reduce the number of feminicide and fight against sexual harassment in Mexico, a group of students from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education designed an innovative jacket that emits electric shocks to the aggressors.

Leer en español: México: Estudiantes crean chamarra contra el acoso sexual

The garment is known under the name "Woman Wearable", a green jacket that at first glance looks conventional but can generate an electric shock of 90 volts through the sleeves to those who cling to it inappropriately. This power produces a stun effect in the attacker from 10 to 20 seconds, time that the victim could take to flee or ask for help from the authorities.

According to descriptions of Giwan Park, one of the creators of the "Woman Wearable", the jacket is "composed of a 9-volt battery, which is attached with a transformer that amplifies the voltage and its current is regulated through different electronic components". Park also explained during an interview with the program La Tarde of NTN24, that the amount of voltaic emissions is not enough to leave the perpetrator unconscious, but it will grant a prudent time gap to free itself from the attack.

The protective garment against sexual harassment looks "unthreatening" and like a conventional jacket, its weight is only a few grams higher than a regular garment. Although it is still in the testing stage, it is estimated that it could be released in different colors and models at a cost of between 800 to 1,000 Mexican pesos, a value corresponding to 50 dollars.

As mentioned by Park, one of the changes that is planned to apply to the "Woman Wearable" is to increase the voltage of the electric shock to get it to leave the attacker unconscious. However, for this, they must have permits and regulations with the authorities in which the team that creates the product still works.

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In turn, these students who develop products to solve the social and economic problems facing countries through innovation, are creating a new prototype that works in the same way as the garment, but in this case, would consist of adhering to any type of clothing and causing the discharge.

Mexico: 14 cases of sexual abuse every hour

According to Giwan Park, the idea of ​​designing the anti-harassment jacket came after the authorities in the city of Puebla showed that three sexual attacks against women were reported every day. According to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI, by its acronym in Spanish), 66.1% of Mexican women over the age of 15 have at some point experienced abuse manifested in sexual assault, violence or employment discrimination.

Statistics published in 2016 by the Executive Commission of Attention to Victims, announced that between 2010 and 2015 there were three million cases of sexual violence, equivalent to 345 cases per day or more than 14 per hour. Of these terrifying figures, 4 out of 10 victims are under the age of 15 and 60% of the violations occur in the home.

The jacket "Woman Wearable" joins several initiatives that through technology have tried to solve a scourge that many consider has not yet been attacked in a radical way by the governments.

LatinAmerican Post | Krishna Jaramillo

Translated from "México: Estudiantes crean chamarra contra el acoso sexual"