To combat sexual assault, women are resorting to electric shock underwear

PLUS: inside Rome's lockdown and the how custom-printed tees violate copyright laws. View this email in your browser  03.22.20 This week our longreads team thought you could use a break from Covid-19 news, and we were lucky enough to have a terrific article by Jillian Keenan, reported out of South Africa. As she writes on Backchannel, women entrepreneurs and engineers around the world are coming up with technology to ward off sexual assault. Some of it is deadly serious, some slightly irreverent, bordering on performance art—from electric shock underwear and panic buttons to barbed female condoms and clothing that can turn into a vending-machine disguise. The underlying issue of course is the rampant prevalence of sexual assault around the world. "Some critics," Keenan writes, "argue that the very idea of arming women with anti-sexual-violence technology is misguided because it doesn't address the root problem: the acceptance of sexual violence in society and, more broadly, rape culture. They say social change is the only real solution—not data or devices." See you next week. Mark Robinson | Features Editor, WIRED   BACKCHANNEL To Combat Sexual Assault, Women Are Resorting to Electric Shock Underwear BY JILLIAN KEENAN Devices to address attacks on women—from panic buttons to lipstick guns—are proliferating. But what about the underlying causes of sexual violence?   BACKCHANNEL On Lockdown in Rome: A Preview of American Life in 11 Days BY MICHELE MASNERI To slow the spread of the coronavirus, Italy has ordered its entire population to stay home. An Italian writer describes living in the surreal new normal that may be coming to the US.   DESIGN FLAWS When Your Custom T-Shirt Is a Copyright Violation BY ROGER SOLLENBERGER Print-on-demand companies allow anyone to upload designs for T-shirts, mugs, and other items. But many images violate intellectual property rights.   The Doctor Who Helped Defeat Smallpox Explains What's Coming BY STEVEN LEVY Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant, who warned of pandemic in 2006, says we can beat the novel coronavirus—but first, we need lots more testing. GET WIRED   All readers get unlimited access to our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.   Subscribe to support our journalism.   Exclusive offer: 1 year for $10 $5.     This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions