MOMENTUM
PRO CON
WEAPONIZED WOMEN
Women—especially on college campuses—are often encouraged to carry pepper spray or knives in order to protect themseles from sexual violence. Ultimately, does this advice abase women or empower them? You decide.
PRO: PROTECTION FOR ALL WORDS BY SOPHIE ALBANIS
B
ringing an end to sexual violence will require a drastic rethinking of, well, lots of things—gender, education, law enforcement, and a myriad of other societal institutions and norms. And things like this take time; the fact that the media has finally begun to shed light on the prevalence of sexual assault does not mean that we are anywhere close to resolving the issue. It could be years or even decades before women feel entirely comfortable walking alone at night. In the meantime, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that some of us choose to carry weapons. At this point in the conversation, somebody usually pipes up with, “But it shouldn’t be women’s responsibility to prevent rape.” And if you’re that person piping up, you’re right. It is never a woman’s responsibility—or a victim of any gender’s responsibility, for that matter—to prevent sexual violence. The fact that sexual violence occurs at such alarmingly high rates is not due to victims being unable to protect themselves; it is due to our society’s failure to teach potential perpetrators (usually of the male gender, but not always) which behaviors are wrong. The media has perpetuated the popular image of rape as a sudden, violent act between two strangers, and most potential perpetrators understand that exploits like these are illegal and immoral. Upon hearing the word “rape,” our minds do not immediately conjure up the image of what contemporary rape has become: something that usually occurs between acquaintances, often aided by alcohol or other date-rape substances. Consequently, hordes of would-be perpetrators do not understand—or, rather, have not been
THE SEXUAL VIOLENCE ISSUE | 24
taught—where their actions cross the line. I don’t mean to play Negative Nancy here, but the fact of the matter is that the odds are not in our favor, ladies. In fact, they are stacked against us. We are not safe on this campus or on most other campuses across the nation. But possessing the feminist chops to understand criticisms of roofie-detecting nail polish or anti-rape condoms will not prevent someone from deciding to assault you. Neither will carrying a weapon. There is a chance, however, that carrying a weapon could protect you if it became necessary. The key distinction here is between prevention and protection. Nobody is trying to say that carrying a weapon will automatically deter the occurrence of sexual assault. It is completely likely that a weapon-carrying woman could become the victim of sexual violence. It’s entirely possible that she could freeze up or misuse the weapon. It’s also entirely possible that she could succeed in using the weapon, escape her assailant, and report her experience to the police. But what happens if she doesn’t succeed? Many critics would argue that carrying a weapon and failing to use it properly could lead to a woman being blamed for her own assault. This, unfortunately, is probably true. It seems, however, that anything can become grounds for victim-blaming, at least according to the white, cis-hetero males that one finds inhabiting the comment sections of Youtube and Facebook. Victims of sexual violence are wrongfully blamed every day. Haters, as they say, are going to hate. The way I see it, you can never be too cautious. And if the statistics are true (they are), it makes logical sense for college-aged women to assume they could become the targets of a sexual assault. I know what you’re thinking: what a dismal way to lead one’s life, always in anticipation of something so horrible. One female sophomore explained, “I don’t necessarily carry it because I think I’m going to be assaulted at any given moment. It’s more for peace of mind. That way, I know that I have it there if I need to use it.” Weaponry itself is so often thought of as a male concept. In her essay “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” author Ursula Le Guin explores—and rejects—the theory of weapons as the first human tools.