Athena: Women's Bestfriend Against Sexual Attacks

Rapes are the major problem encountered by women as well as men. The sense of security is long gone in people starting with the age below 10, ruining the remaining life of innocents.

According to CDC, approximately 19.3% of women and 1.7% of men have suffered sexual attacks in their lifetime contributing to multiple devastating consequences and the number is increasing with time.

Because of the increasing number of sexual assault and harassment, technology lead to the invention of a device that could prevent such misbehavior towards women and children. This plea has been heard by a company, Roar for Good which is fanatical to preventing rapes. It introduced its very first defensive device, Athena, which is named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and courage. It is a diminutive circular button that can be clipped onto the belt or lapel and can also be worn around necks. On detecting any sense of danger, if pressed, it releases a loud alarm to grasp the attentions of passersby as well as sending the destination of the victim-to-be to all the incorporated emergency contacts for tracking down.

Yasmine Mustafa, founder of Athena device shared her inspiration with the media, saying that it was her unaccompanied trip across South America that made her destined to invent a device against molesters and rapist. She said, "As amazing as [the trip] was...literally everywhere I went I would hear of a time where a woman had been attacked," Mustafa told Mashable. When she came back, a nearby neighbor had gone outside to read her meter when she was attacked, brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. "When I read the news story the next day, that's when the idea for ROAR was born.

Although, many protective measures have been taken against such attacks, including pepper spray, tasers as well as some apps, they are not as readily available as Athena can be. As they require time to reach out while Athena only involves a button pressing. On the other hand, unlike Safelite, another wrist-worn protective device, Athena cannot be worn on wrists because it diminishes the chances of self- defense as it involves only one hand to press, according to Mustafa.

Athena incorporates different features for different situations. in future, more useful addition features are being hoped for, e.g. instantly calling up police. Its future plans also depict launching of varieties in styles of Athens to suits characteristic personalities of children, youngsters as well as adults.

IndieGoGo campaign was created by Athena's creator to fund their design and was able to raise more than $150,000 in only 15 days of their fund campaign, according to the report of Metro.

The company collaborates with non-profit organizations to educate young people about empathy and relationships as well as working towards a safer world in the days to come.

"The whole idea is to take ownership of yourself and empower yourself," Mustafa adds. "It's about empowering women to live a life without fear."

Athena is expected to be launched internationally in early May 2016 for $99. It reached its goal amount of $40,000 in less than 48 hours of its launch and it is anticipated to bring revolution in future, overcoming today's one of the major problem.