Anti-rape apps ‘could aid stalkers’

SMARTPHONE ‘anti-rape’ apps could be hijacked by stalkers, a study has warned.

The software applications are used by friends or relatives to track women on dates in a bid to keep them safe.

But a Scots academic says they could be misused by stalkers and create unnecessary fears.

Lesley McMillan, Professor of Criminology at Glasgow Caledonian University, studied apps which claim to mitigate the risk of sexual assault.

She said: ‘Many of these devices feed into the common, erroneous assumption of “stranger danger”, the myth that rapists primarily jump out of bushes late at night.

‘We know this type of sexual assault is very rare. Most women are raped by someone known to them.

‘In essence, these technologies place responsibility on everyone except perpetrators. They focus on women taking routine measures for their own sexual assault prevention.’

An increasing number of personal safety apps are available in the UK, which can record consent for sexual activity, send text alerts to family and friends if a woman feels she is in a dangerous situation or track an individual’s journey home.

Professor McMillan said: ‘Women are frequently blamed for their victimisation and this could become more intense if questioned as to why they had not informed someone of their whereabouts using an app, or collected evidence of the assault.’

Several personal safety apps offer remote monitoring of a phone. But concerns have been raised that women in abusive relationships may be put at risk. Professor McMillan said: ‘Worryingly, these technologies could become the tool of the coercive controller, as they offer the potential for increased surveillance of women.’

As well as apps, researchers looked at a range of devices marketed as anti-rape devices, including protective clothing and colour-changing nail polish that manufacturers claim can detect date-rape drugs.

But Professor McMillan said: ‘Just as self-defence training for women has not eradicated sexual assault, selling women communication technologies will not end the historic pattern of pervasive sexual violence.’