Free the Love: On Drug-Detecting Nail Polish

Nailing It

Words: Ghia Vitale
Image: Leslie Pyo
QuailBellMagazine.com

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I browsed Facebook weak and weary, a photo dark teal-sparkled nail polish caught my eye. For a millisecond, I paused to think, “Hmm, I need to get new nail polish.” Then I scrolled away as thoughtlessly as I had scrolled into my first encounter with the new nail polish that detects date rape drugs. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a great idea. And I still do.

With that said, the nail polish doesn’t negate the necessity of shutting down rape culture and the pernicious beliefs that place the brunt of rape-prevention responsibilities on victims rather than attackers. After all, rapists are the ones who are committing rapes and  as the perpetrators, it’s their responsibility to eliminate rape. There’s no doubt that the onus of the blame lies on the assailants’ shoulders. Anyone who has a doubt about that in 2014: Let’s not meet. Ever. But here’s the thing: getting raped really, really sucks. It is a horrific experience, to say the very least. If wearing this nail polish makes people feel safer and increases their quality, then I salute them. I might be wearing that nail polish when I salute them in the future.

I wanted drug-detecting nail polish to thank for multiple blessings. For one, the polish will make my nails look pretty. I am also thankful that the nail polish for changing color when it comes into contact with date rape drugs. In the frightening event that a drink makes the nail polish change colors, I hope that this nail polish does, in fact, go on to save lives and prevent druggings. 

However, while wearing this nail polish might prevent drugging by alerting potential victims of the dangers lurking within their glass, it sure as hell won’t protect the wearer against other forms of rape. The nail polish can’t protect the wearer from people who commit rape by hounding victims down for sex through verbal battery, threats, or straight-up alcohol, to name a few of the many ways to commit rape that might not be known to people who are, um, “lesser-educated” about the issue. (At this point, I'd recommend a crash course in empathy. I don’t care how socially constructed compassion is or isn’t; we’d be much better off with more of it.) Actually, it might not even help me avoid any kind of rape because scientists are already suggesting that it doesn’t function as flawlessly as it should.

I see my decision to get drug-detecting nail polish as akin to the logic applied to my decision to carry dog mace with me on my walks. Y’see, I love nice dogs. Due to my lack of experience with dogs, I lack the ability to remain unwavered by their incessant barking and attempted alpha-tripping. I can’t retain composure or conceal my fear and they know it. “Stop being afraid! He’s trying to overpower you!” (Side note: I always wanna say, “Um, listen, dude—I know plenty of nice alpha dogs that go out of their way to be affectionate when they see that a human is afraid of them.”) And it’s true; from what I can tell, my fear alone is what only exacerbates dogs’ aggression. Usually, dogs like this have a caretaker around to handle them, but when I’m out walking, I want to make it back from my route in one piece. Also, I don’t want to miss out on the coastal view of Connecticut across the Long Island sound. So I take dog mace with me. 


Many people who walk for exercise often take protective measures of this nature, the most common weapon of choice being a stick to fend off any critters that might take it upon themselves to attack these humans. I shouldn’t have to walk around in fear of getting attacked by a dog, but there are vicious dogs out. Due to the fact that I am so terrified of getting attacked again, the dog mace helps me feel a bit safer. During the aftermath of a dog attack, I’ve never heard of anyone saying, “You should have had dog mace. What were you thinking?” People blame the dog for attacking the human, not the other way around. Yet on average, dogs do not have reasoning skills or cognitive capacities that are equivalent to those of human cognition, so why rationalize rapists’ actions and intentions? How people do this to rape victims is beyond me.

If only I could say the same for rape. Wouldn't it be nice if all of humanity banned together to eliminate rape and other acts of brutality against each other. We must accept collective responsibility for making sure that violence isn’t “just the way things are” anymore.

Another thing: the "anti-date rape" nail polish can alert you to the presence of douchebags, but not only drink-spiking douchebags. This nail polish provides a convenient avenue for alerting you to lethal levels of douchebaggery. (By the way, “douchebaggery” is an official word now.)  I’m talking about people who are still socially and emotionally inept enough to take attire into consideration when determining whether or not victims were “asking for it” or “really raped.” Also, the nail polish is an easy way of opening up a dialogue about rape that wouldn’t normally be considered, but could prove to be enlightening for those who’ve yet to understand the realities of sexual assault. I shouldn’t have to shine light into assholes, but unfortunately, there are people out there that need insight in regard to being humane, compassionate, and understanding that anything clothing choices don’t “invite” rape. Rapists “invite” themselves to cross distinct boundaries and do not care whether or not they are welcome. I would probably have to take a cheese grater to my heart in order to understand poverty of compassion in that vein.

Short skirts, high heels, fishnets, pony tails, hanging out in certain parts of town at night… These are only a few items on the laundry list of factors that women must take into consideration in order to avoid being raped. People fear that the date rape drug-detecting nail polish might join this backwards laundry list. Dude, if there’s any outward symptoms of scary rape-endorsing attitudes, it’s making the effort to scrutinize someone’s apparel down to the freakin’ NAIL POLISH that they’re wearing. All the better for me to spit my drink in their face.

While I love any excuse to spit my drink in someone’s face (the major pitfall lying behind their soaked face), Katie Russell of Rape Crisis England & Wales does not support the nail polish. According to her, the organization refuses to “endorse or promote such a product or anything similar. This is for three reasons: it implies that it’s the woman’s fault and assumes responsibility on her behalf, and detracts from the real issues that arise from sexual violence.” I completely understand; it takes much, much more than nail polish to stop a crime as rampant as sexual assault. I agree 100% with her on that. What kind of horrible people seriously blame someone’s nail polish for anything, let alone someone else’s actions? Oh, that’s right. How disheartening. 

I understand why Rape Crisis England & Wales refuses to support the drug-detecting nail polish: “Products like this suggest otherwise. The emphasis must be placed 100% on the perpetrator.” That kind of thinking is perfectly aligned with the contradictory victim-blaming logic that plagues the world. I wonder what they would say if the rape-detecting nail polish only came in one color. Would they say that I should’ve at least cared enough to wear a color that vaguely resembled the super-nail polish in order to ward off rapists? As far as rape goes, the whole of the blame goes to rapists and anyone who facilitates attacks or excuses them. But that doesn't mean that someone won't try to slip something in my drink. I yearn to see a day where these dreadful spikes become entirely unthinkable and alien to humanity.

I hope that I never encounter someone who has the audacity to think for even the most split of seconds that (not) wearing something excuses or invites rape. Some day, figuring out who sucks and who doesn’t suck won’t be such a hefty time investment. In the future, I hope that I can install an app on my digital glasses that pops up a captcha in front of every human I have to interact. My lenses will read the following: “Is drug-detecting nail polish the solution to rape?” If they answered correctly ("no", duh!), we’d keep talking until another must-click-to-resume captcha pops up to further asses the individual. Also, word on the street is that it’s therapeutic to degrade others, so why not do it to people who deserve it instead of innocent passersby?

“Should’ve worn the nail polish.” Can you imagine someone saying that to a person? 

Note how no such invisible checklist exists for men, yet I definitely know many men I’ve known have had their drinks spiked. Whenever men were to be brave enough to come forth as survivors, would people tell them that they should've worn the polish? Men are also often victims of drugging, especially at frat parties, clubs, bars, raves, festivals, small parties, home, a gathering for two, etc. Statistics are faulty, but I know a lot of people (men included) who were drugged in these environments and many, many more. And it's always because someone chose to violate someone else.

Out of all of the people I know who have been drugged, most were assaulted or escaped assault. Others weren't attacked and some can't figure out why they were drugged in the first place, but are absolutely certain that someone put something in their drink. (I should note that this is the most common scenario that I've heard about among the guys I know who have been the victims of drink-drugging.)  Obviously, some people think it's just fine and dandy to relinquish command over someone else's control and will. My one friend drank a drugged drink at a club which she believes, in retrospect, the guilty parties intended for her boyfriend to drink. Although more women are victims of drugging, it’s also a very real threat for everyone. When I go out drinking with my guy friends, it scares me to see how careless they are about monitoring their drinks, as though there’s no risk in the world of some psycho slipping something in. It’s as though they weren’t conditioned for their whole life to believe that it was their job to always guard their drink, as though they were never made aware that there were strangers lurking about who were just eager to drop sketchy substances into their drinks with nefarious intent!

Now, let’s say that, for whatever reason, a guy wants to join a frat and he’s concerned about getting drugged. If he wanted to use the nail polish, he would have to put it on in secrecy. It’s only socially acceptable for men in certain subcultures to wear nail polish. Honestly, no one bats an eye when boys wear nail polish (or any makeup, for that matter) at a show. Women aren’t the only victims of drugging. When you hear a douchebag cite someone’s lack of nail polish as some kind of liability, ask them what men should do to avoid rape in those circumstances and see how they respond. It also might shine some light on the excessive gendering of fashion. I’d like to be the person who makes someone cognizant of such an important subjects. But still, I shouldn’t have to explain how or why (?!?!?) men are also victims of rape, the irrelevance of victims’ appearances, and the personal freedom to dress however you damn well please.

Notice how trans people are always left out of the equation? Over 50% of transgender people are subject to sexual violence.

I realize that unfortunately, I might have to undertake the burden of explaining that yes, men are victims of rape. But it’s a labor of love; none of us are ever obligated to explain basic decency to other members. I have a dream that one day, sexual violence will become extinct or, at the very least, recognized by the human majority for what it is: violence. Until then, I would like to lessen the chance of getting drugged at any turn. The most effective way of doing that is creating a world where committing rape is wholly understood and condemned. We need to direct the bulk of our efforts toward the creation of a world that has no need for products like drug-detecting nail polish to be created in the first place. In the meantime, I’d like to have just one extra safety measure at hand because I decided that it would be a good way to protect myself. It doesn’t change the fact that we are in no way “responsible” for someone else’s decision to commit sexual assault.

#Real #NailPolish #DateRape #RapeCulture #NailPolish #Drugging #VictimBlaming #Consent #Feminism
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