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Abstract
Integrating mobile technology into women's everyday lives has rendered fantasies (and realties) around enhancing one's personal safety in multi-tasking while fulfilling the often gendered expectations of constant contact, accessibility, and responsibility. Mobile intimacy changes the user's perception of their current social environment. A survey study was conducted using 197 female college students from a large US public institution to investigate whether women imagine their mobile phones to be weapons of self-defense. Significant results indicate that not only do women imagine their mobile phones to be weapons of self-defense, they view mobile phones to be more effective than a more traditional weapon, like pepper spray. Mobile phones do promote personal safety and disaster relief, yet over-reliance on mobile phone use can be detrimental.
Acknowledgements
Support for this project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.
Notes
1. Pepper spray is a chemical spray sold in small aerosol cans. It is marketed to be carried discreetly and used as a weapon of self-defense. When sprayed in the eyes of an assailant it will cause the eyes to burn, tear up, and temporary blindness. The overall experience is painful, although not life threatening. It is meant to be used as a deterrent so that the victim can extricate themselves from the dangerous situation. In New York, pepper spray is legal to use and to carry.