Two University of Colorado Boulder students were motivated by the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings to create an app designed to prevent sexual assault.
Junior Nolan McIntosh said he was watching coverage of Kavanaugh’s Sept. 2018 U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing and the accompanying allegations of sexual assault when he thought of an idea for an app.
“I thought to myself, ‘There’s no solution to this and it’s ridiculous there’s no solution to this. Someone should record these conversations so that way we at least know what happened,’” McIntosh said.
PartyFavor is a hybrid voice recorder, location sensor and alert system. Users can create voice recordings of their nights out, and when the app hears unique code words, it sends alerts and a location to the user’s emergency contacts.
McIntosh reached out to sophomore Max Young to design the app, which they launched in October.
“It’s a really big issue on every college campus,” Young said. “So far everyone has been on board to help us try to stop this.”
The app is geared toward women, McIntosh said, though it can be helpful for anyone.
“Men can feel in danger too,” he said. “Men can feel threatened, and sometimes people forget that.”
Lindsey Breslin, hotline supervisor for Lafayette-based advocacy group Moving to End Sexual Assault, said though reducing risk is good, the app may give people a false sense of security.
“While it’s well-intentioned in wanting to reduce risk, there are a lot of other dynamics with sexual assault. I don’t want people to think they’re safe because their app is on,” Breslin said.
It’s important to train people to talk about consent before they have sex, Breslin said — to talk about what each person wants to do and to verbally say yes to it.
“There’s still an emphasis that people should somehow be able to stop themselves being sexually assaulted, but we really need to be teaching people not to sexually assault,” she said.
Teaching people to intervene when they see their friends in precarious situations is also important, Breslin said.
The app does not connect users with police or first responders, though McIntosh and Young said they’re looking into that option.
“Every use might not be a time where emergency services have to come. It might be a case of I’m lost and I need my friends to come help me,” Young said.
Because it runs in the background, the app doesn’t drain the battery too quickly, McIntosh said.
The app costs $14.99 a year or $1.99 a month and includes unlimited storage for recordings. It is currently only available in the Apple App Store, though McIntosh said there are plans to develop an app for Android.
If you are a victim of sexual assault
Contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or the Boulder County Moving to End Sexual Assault 24-hour hotline at 303-443-7300.