SMART NEWS

Hairy Stockings and Other Pervert-Deterring Fashion Accessories

Most conversations gloss over the root of these creative accessories: sexual harassment

June 21, 2013

Japan is notorious for its panty thieves and school girl gropers on trains. These unfortunate realities for women have sparked a range of interesting anti-pervert fashions, including panties that block creepers from using infrared cameras on their phones to see through skirts, and a disguise that transforms a woman into a vending machine to escape stalkers.

ShotGuard panties from Japan. The fabric prevents infrared penetration from cell phone cameras, which the company that manufactures them calls “a big social problem” in recent years. ShotGuard

Now, China has come up with its own anti-pervert accessory – hairy stockings. Writing on the popular social media site Weibo, one user, HappyZhangjiang, posted a photo of the stockings and described them as, “Super sexy, summer anti-wolf wool leg stockings.” The hairy hose are so thick, HappyZhangjiang continues, that they will even protect against mosquito bites.

Metro rounds up some of the public’s responses on Weibo:

‘Damn, so disgusting!!!’ commented one user.

‘Essential for the subway?’ said another.

However one user speculated the latest fashion fad could backfire: ‘This will not only prevent against perverts, it’ll definitely also result in preventing handsome guys from approaching you.

‘When things go to the extreme, they can only go the opposite direction!!!’

A woman in Japan turns herself into a vending machine. Amber Case

While women in Japan and Asia may provoke giggles by donning hairy stockings and vending machine camouflage, most conversations gloss over the root of the problem: the fact that sexual harassment from men continues to provoke creation of these disturbing, if not creative, accessories.