Sex workers commit victimless crimes, but they are often the victims of violent crimes. Now a group of techies are changing that by teaching sex workers to make smart platform shoes fitted out with alarms and video cameras. The group calls itself The Aphrodite Project, and they're running a series of workshops around the world where they help sex workers rip apart their pretty platform shoes, install alarms and video cameras in them, and then put them back together to make killer shoes that could save a life. At left, you can see two of the shoes, one with a little red alarm button (the alarm is quite loud when activated), and the other with a small screen displaying what's being recorded. The idea, according to project co-coordinator Melissa Gira, is to help sex workers protect themselves from attack -- particularly in the developing world, where violence against prostitutes often goes unpunished.
The smart shoes are pretty simple to make, thanks to a wonder product called "shapelock." A "low temperature thermoplastic" that becomes moldable when boiled and sets hard when cooled, smart lock is what keeps the electronics snugly in place inside those silver platforms. Noreen Leddy, another coordinator for the Aphrodite Project, says the makers of shapelock love the project and have donated quite a bit of their product to the cause.
