I’ll never forget the first thing my dad told me before I hopped in the car to move into my dorm: “Don’t forget your pepper spray.” My mind briefly flashed back to my college shopping trip at Target where I picked out the pink keychain. He was adamant that I needed to carry it around with me wherever I went, scared that his little girl might end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though I didn’t quite understand what his deal was until my junior year.
I never thought the reason I felt safe walking home alone was my pepper spray until the day I finally took it off of my keys. By this point, I had been told in almost every setting I wasn’t allowed to carry it into a building because it’s considered a “weapon.” I had never used it before, so what was the problem with removing it now? Then, it hit me. I was walking home in the dark one night anxiously rushing to get back to my dorm after I realized I didn’t have my pepper spray. A rush of fear crept up on me as the thought someone might sneak up on me and I’d have no way to protect myself rushed through my head. When I finally was safe at home in my bed, my mind wondered if there were girls who felt the same intense fear.
Many college campuses across the United States prohibit pepper spray on school grounds. I’m lucky that my university only requires to take my pepper spray off to enter school events, but how many college students aren’t as lucky as me?
As an advocate for women and their safety, I feel it is necessary to recognize the importance of pepper spray on college campuses and how it plays a vital role in the safety and protection of young women. With the rise of sexual assaults on college campuses (https://www.rainn.org/statistics/campus-sexual-violence), along with the constant news of women being kidnapped, is it questionable whether colleges and universities that ban pepper spray on campus are truly protecting anyone, and if they are, why it seems to disregard the population of students whose vulnerabilities are greater. It is impossible to compare a sexual assault and accidental pepper spray; one is typically temporary and the other can have lasting effects. And if that isn’t enough, beyond countless news features of women’s lives being stolen too soon, we also hear numerous success stories where pepper spray saved a life in an ordinary situation, a proven point of the increased safety for women when carrying pepper spray.
My concluding point is that while women should not have to live in fear to begin with, it is an unfortunate reality for many young women on college campuses today. By banning a suitable and accessible option for all young women by deeming pepper spray a weapon, colleges and universities continue to push backward on the progression and prioritization of safety for female college students.