The Pepper Spray - A Gendered View

Thoughts this morning while I was on a shopping site.

4/5/2018
8:00 AM
You know what is one of the saddest things to buy in the world? A pepper spray. The very fact that a woman buys it, keeping a particular scenario in mind, makes her small and powerless in her own eyes.

I know, being able to afford one is a privilege, and yet, needing one, is a misfortune.

Apart from questions ''Will such a situation arise?'' and ''Will I get time to take it out?'', there are questions like ''If all woman carry pepper sprays at all times, will crime against women not happen at all?''. The last one is nothing but a rhetorical question.

What can we do? Carry one. Trust no one. TRY TO be safe.

The scenario of using a pepper spray could arise in any situation. A man following her, or getting home late from work, or getting home late on a bus after watching a movie. Why is a woman considered to be the physical manifestation of vulnerability in all these situations? What did she do to feel so insecure? And when they say, stay indoors, why does she feel like wrapping herself with bubble wrap and getting a tattoo on her head saying fragile?

4/5/2018
10:50 AM
And yet, looking from another angle, the pepper spray is a symbol of strength. She is ready to face the world. She is unstoppable. She is ready to fight in any situation that might arise. She is not unarmed in the constant battle to be safe. She IS a fighter.

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