Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores the material culture of safety gadgets, like tasers, and how these objects are positioned as gendered and exist as technologies of enchantment (Gell 1999). It further elucidates cuteness as an aesthetic of (in)security and explores these gadget’s agency in gender representation.

Paper Abstract:

"I don’t have my taser, but I’ve got My Kitty." Marysol

In times of insecurity and uncertainty, my ethnographic research in Brooklyn, NYC, has found women, including trans women, and queer and non-binary folks turning to non-lethal weaponization in the form of safety gadgets; self-defence weapons, such as tasers, pepper sprays, alarms and kubotans. These tools are frequently advertised to women and the LGBTQ+ community and as such express certain gender and sexuality stereotypes, from pink spiky cat ears to cute mushroom-shaped tasers. This paper will attempt to ‘un-do’ the complex relationship between such safety-gadgets and their user’s conceptions of their body, as supposedly both gendered and insecure.

Furthermore, this paper will deconstruct cuteness as an aesthetic category and its role in gendered experiences of security and safety in the city. The cute and the pink beguile, (Yano, 2013) and these safety gadgets exist as technologies that enchant and entrap (Gell, 1999), doing things in the world, beyond aesthetics, including gender representation and performativity. From captivating visuals to the jolting crackle of a taser, this paper dissects such sensations of (in)security, whilst further investigating the digital presence of such gadgets, as they are heavily advertised on Instagram and TikTok. Moreover, this paper will also explore the role of the body in personal security, as a voice, as a material presence, and as a means of defense. This will be situated in the context of Brooklyn and my interlocutor’s dialogues about their safety and security practices and experiences, both on-and-offline.