Seeing as how there’s been a lot of Shameless blogging about tasers, and about the colour pink, I figured you might all want to know that come April 2007 for a mere $300 we will all be able to buy personal 50,000 volt tasers in a range of colours - including pink.
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to admit this: I’ve wanted to own my own taser for many years now, since a friend advised, “absolutely nobody will mess with you if you’ve got a taser.”
See, I’m utterly terrified of being sexually assaulted. I never have been, but so, so many of my friends have been raped. It’s truly sad that I consider myself “one of the lucky ones” because I haven’t been violated. And it’s truly sad that I now fear every single strange man I see. I have no prejudices - I don’t care what race you are, how old you are, whether you look poor or rich, healthy or sick - if you are a man on the streets late at night and I don’t know you, I fear you.
So although the pacifist/hippy in me is utterly opposed to the sale of these horrible things, the vengeful woman in me actually got a wee bit excited when I saw this piece of news. I would love nothing more than to take a sparkly pink taser to the testicles of every single scumbag rapist out there who got away with it (which is almost all of them).
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eight comments
Hey Zoe, your post made me think about an article I read a few months ago in Bitch magazine about womens' self-defense classes, and some letters written to the mag in response - readers complained that the writer, by emphasising womens' self-defense without talking at all about education for men, was implying that women alone are responsible for ending rape, which implies that women alone are...responsible for rape.
I realise that a class about "why you shouldn't rape women" sounds ridiculous, but considering the rates at which women are assaulted it's apparently necessary. Or maybe just education that specifically targets the reasons why men wind up expressing their feelings through aggression, or why power becomes such an imperative that a man rapes another person.
I guess this is my roundabout way of saying that - as much as I understand your fear (Sidebar: every night I walk home afraid, even though I don't know many women who have been raped, and all the women I know who have been raped were date raped, not assualted by some stranger on a street corner. This fear is so ingrained that I was shocked a little while ago to realise that it's NOT a daily fact of life for a large portion of the population - namely men.) and your desire to hurt people - to me, getting to the root of the problem is far more effective than electrocuting men who themselves are victims of a pretty sick culture.
Posted by Thea
January 10, 2007, 7:25 PM
Absolutely - prevention is what we need to focus on, and it is the responsiblity of both men and women. But changing male attitudes - even just here, let alone all over the world - seems so far off and remote. And in the meantime so very few of the victims ever see their attacker held accountable.
I can't honestly say I would ever electrocute somebody - I can't imagine doing that. Nor do I condone violence of any form. But rape is so common, and justice so rare, sometimes I can't contain my anger. And I am sure - if fact, am positive - that this anger is ubiquitous among women.
Actually, thinking about my post this afternoon after a yoga class (which is always calming), I thought it might have been too strong - too much of a violent reaction to violence. I was going to change it, but then I thought, no. It came from a very real place inside of me, and sometimes we have to own up to our feelings - no matter how ugly they may be.
Which is of course, where compassion comes in. You can rehabilitate sex offenders, and you can prevent children from becoming them - people don't want to be evil. But I just wish Society (with a capital S) would step it up and recognize the problem already.
Posted by zoe
January 10, 2007, 11:16 PM
I actually find that review pretty disturbing. It implies that tasers "shock", and that's not what they do. They "inflict severe pain" (Amnesty International). This is a pretty gross example of using pink to sell a product.
Taser is modifying their branding to profit from the real fear many women have of being attacked. In order to sell a dangerous and highly controversial product. Tasers are a serious weapon, and they certainly shouldn't be pushed as gadgets.
You can't buy safety. That it is 'your' taser doesn't mean that a potential attacker can't or won't use it against you. Learning how to defend yourself, on the other hand, is something that you can carry around with you wherever you go.
Posted by catherine
January 11, 2007, 11:03 AM
Zoe, I don't think your initial reaction to the idea of owning a taser is too strong at all. Sexual assault and violence are a very real threat to women and you shouldn't second guess the very real reaction to the fear you feel. While I am one of the last people in the world who would endorse violence in any form, I think the reality is that we can't rule out tools to defend ourselves.
Please see: The L Word Season 3 for the Jenny/Moira Taser scene (Lost Weekend Ep302) to get an idea of what I mean.
While I agree that you can't buy safety, and women and men alike need to be educated, I also think there's an immediate reality that women need to protect themselves in the moment. While I don't think that every woman should go out and buy a pink taser, I do think that a "all violence is wrong" necessarily works. And Zoe- your initial feeling of retribution is a suitable one that seems to be tempered with an equally suitable "rise above" post yoga.
As someone who has been the victim of violence in the past, it certainly would have been nice if I'd had both the strength to say "don't mess with me" and the strength of a taser to say it for me.
Does this mean I'll accessorize with a brand new Pink Taser? Doubtful - but I'm certainly not in a position to tell women who are in higher risk situations than I that they can't.
Posted by Stacey May
January 11, 2007, 11:46 AM
Also, for some Taser FAQ, CBC does a good primer:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tas...
Posted by Stacey May
January 11, 2007, 12:01 PM
Zoe, don't get a taser! Your own body can't be used against you the way a taser can. Shit, even a knife can't be used against you in quite the same way, because you can fight while receiving a stab wound or within a fraction of a second after that knife comes out if your adrenaline is pumping hard enough and you've learned to channel an adrenaline rush from fear-freezing into anger-fighting/flighting. You can't do that with a taser. Tasers will incapacitate your ability to move for a few potentially crucial seconds no matter how much adrenaline you've got pumping.
Anyway, for more on the "what classes that teach you to use your only 24/7 weapon" side...I finally got a web page up about it! (Sorry for the delay, Catherine...please read about it and we should get back to talking about an article.) Click here.
I'm curious to see how you feel about the idea of getting a taser after reading these first-person narratives about this other option that I advocate.
Posted by Katie
January 11, 2007, 2:11 PM
P.S. YES! This is what they teach you to tap into in IMPACT! Only...they also, after you tap into it the first few times, then teach you about only using it when someone else is infringing upon your attempts to walk around in the world. And they teach you about not walking around in the world using that part of yourself infringing upon others' rights to walk around in the world.
And then we get examples, like "muggings" where the guy was just walking by, asking for the time--or "muggings" where the guy does get too close, but he's got a good sense of "Hey, don't provoke other animals, because that's not cool" in his subconscious, so you can get him to step back and make you more comfortable just by telling him to, etc. There are definitely scenarios where the female teacher has to start the "mugging" over again because a woman tapped into the primal place without a sign of intent to attack. And we all learn from that, and by the end of the class, we're all pretty good at giving people more chances and watching for true signs of intent to attack, yet at the same time, we're all completely ready to tap into it.
(By the way, another thing we learn is that going overboard & tapping into it too early (as long as we're not being vigilantes or doing something that impedes an innocent's right to walk in the world like inflicting incapacitating physical damage over a first comment) is no justification for a person to attack us. If a guy saves you from another leerer and you say, "Thank you, but I need you to step back NOW," instead of a more neutral, "Thank you. I do need you to step back, too," and he decides that he's going to pound you for being rude, well, you have every right to defend yourself against him. A good person would've had hurt feelings--maybe even crabbed at you and walked away--but would NOT channel those feelings into hurting you.)
Posted by Katie
January 11, 2007, 2:25 PM
First: how awesome to see such passionate dialogue! It's par for the course here at Shameless, but its always uplifting to see.
Second: Katie, don't worry, I won't be buying a taser anytime soon. Not just because it would cost $300 and I'm a freelance writer (and am therefore perpetually in a state of borderline poverty), but because of the very real possibility of that taser being used on me in turn. Although I wouldn't buy one, I just wanted to make the point that it is darn tempting!
I'll continue to rely on my extreme hostility to any strange man I see at night to send the correct message (ie that I am not to be f***ed with), and I'll keep working on my hamstrings and biceps through yoga, should I ever have to use them to hurt somebody. I also plan on using my exceptionally sharp canine teeth if the need should arise - never underestimate the power of a strategically placed bite.
Thanks for all the advice on self defence classes! I've been meaning to take one for years. I've always been scared that, if i was attacked, I would not be able to fight back - not because I'm not strong enough, but because I would be frozen in fear, like those dreams where somebody attacks you but you can't seem to move a muscle... So it's comforting to know that so many women manage to fend off attackers - it gives me courage.
I just remembered a story my mom once told me that I want to share with you guys. Fifty years ago, late one evening, my grandmother put my mum to bed and then took out the garbage. As she was putting the trash into the cans, out of the darkness a strange, huge man crept up behind her and grabbed her, putting one massive, stinky hand over her mouth.
"If you scream I'll throw acid in your face," he said.
What was she to do? Well, my grandmother isn't a very strong woman, but she's smart. As he started to drag her into the alley, she kicked out widlly, and knocked over all the trashcans (which were metal in those days). The falling garbage cans made such a racket, the neighbours all turned on their lights and came outside to see what had happened. The man ran away, and my grandmother was left without a scratch on her.
Posted by zoe
January 11, 2007, 6:26 PM
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