In the wake of the killing of Ashling Murphy, Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae has called for a debate about legalising the use of mace so that “women, in particular, would be able to defend themselves against unprovoked attacks and assaults.”
Here’s the thing: I understand suggestions like this coming from individual women. I get it. I’ve held my keys in my hands, just in case, more times than I care to remember. I know what it is like to want to feel safe while going about my daily life.
But legalising pepper spray is not the answer. Good intentions do not necessarily equal good laws.
It stands to reason that this hypothetical legislation would only allow for the use of pepper spray in certain circumstances, so while being assaulted will women have to figure out whether now is an acceptable time to use it or risk facing criminal charges themselves? Will ‘why wasn’t she carrying pepper spray?’ be added to the long list of victim-blaming questions we are already dealing with?
Pepper spray, anti-rape alarms, nail polish that changes colour when in the presence of drugs, consent apps, and the countless other personal protection products marketed towards women individualise a systemic problem. A critical study of anti-rape technologies published in Violence Against Women by Dr Deborah White and Dr Lesley McMillan concludes that “perhaps the key limit to all such technologies is that they fail to address the root structural causes of rape and sexual assault, and to address those truly responsible for it.”
Never mind the fact that pepper spray could become another weapon for men to attack women with.
Deputy Healy-Rae closes his statement by saying that “The very least we should do is open a real debate in making pepper spray a legal alternative for women to defend themselves in such violent situations.”
I beg to differ.
The very least we should do is call out misogyny and sexism when we witness them. The very least we should do is build a culture of consent.
The very least we should do is stop telling girls that when boys are mean to them it is because they like them. The very least we should do is teach our children about bodily autonomy and consent. The very least we should do is provide our young people with comprehensive fact-based sex education.
The very least we should do is ensure that our domestic abuse services, refuges, and rape crisis centres are properly funded. The very least we should do is fund prevention and education programmes.
The very least we should do is tackle the causes of gender-based violence instead of, once again, placing the onus on women to protect ourselves.