Do you experience fear in spaces including home?

There is a possibility that you use tools to protect yourself or to feel safer in other environments , beside public spaces. This could be at the workplace, a family wedding, home , a conference. You are welcome to contextualise this project in an area that speaks to you the most.
To contribute to the Museum of Street Weapons of Defence visit here . Have a question? Read our FAQS here

There had been a rumour of a molester in the area around our school, and my sister and I both  walked home from school. Suddenly a simple fifteen-minute walk was turned into some kind of  horror movie set up. I remember my sister leaving for a field trip, and my mother took me aside that  evening, pressing this oversized red blade into my hand- I couldn’t even wrap my hands around the  hilt. She showed me how to extend the blade, the best way to angle it away from my body, and how  to slice.  
Think of it like cutting thermacol sheets. I never though much of it until I started going to college. 
In high school, I was an art student, of course I would carry a cutter. I would wear an oversized jacket  to feel safer, and deep in the right pocket, easy to pull out: the oversized cutter. 

It’s an heirloom of self-defence- my aunt owned it first, who gave it to my mother, who gave it to my  sister, and then she gave it to me. 
Both my parents are architects, so I never questioned why we had one like that, but it was made for  a left handed user (a fact that only became apparent after a few dozen ruined cartridge sheets that I  had to prep). 
I keep it in the bottom of my bag, and my sister carries a minuscule cutter.
We never use them. I  carry a bunch of keys that I can set between my knuckles, but I genuinely feel uneasy if I don’t know  for certain if the cutter is in my bag.  
Why did I have to learn to hold a blade in self-defence at age nine? I have used the blade only ever  once. And there was an almost sickening feeling of vindication- that I carried a sharp blade to ward  off someone’s aggression. That I hadn’t forgotten to carry something that could hurt someone else. I  know how to hold the cutter to warn someone away, to break someone’s hold on you. 
I don’t resent having this knowledge.  But I wish I didn’t need to.
- Action Shero MS

I was in Class 8 or 9 at the time. The place I would go to, for tuitions was just about 300 meters away from my apartment. There was an adjacent lane there where local boys would race on their bikes. They had this trick where they would corner a girl with their bikes in the narrow lane and get joy out of the fear and anger it invoked in the woman. It happened to me and I felt extremely angry and powerless.

My mother advised me to carry an umbrella with me and hit back if something like that happened again. I often fantasized about heroically fighting off men with my umbrella , although that never happened.

When returning home late from college fests, I always kept my phone close to me, either in the pocket of my jeans or in my hand. I pretend often to either text or speak to someone on the phone in public spaces when I am alone to avoid unwelcome approaches from men. I travel alone often and this has become a habit. 

The third thing that makes me feel protected is my backpack. I carry a big backpack even when I don’t need to carry that much stuff, just because it makes me feel safe. It helps hide my body, avoid attention and in crowded spaces, I wear it in front and clutch it close to my body to avoid unwelcome touches and looks. It has protected me from attacks multiple times. I remember a couple of years back I was walking home from college, down a very dark and empty road. A bike zoomed from behind me and the man riding the bike tried to grope my behind. Because my bag was so big, he ended up hitting my bag.

These “weapons” of self defence have been passed down to me by my mother, grandmother and aunts along with this instruction of constantly being alert and realizing no space is safe for me because I am a woman.
- Action Shero Ananya

I carry a letter/pamphlet from Blank Noise (talking about street sexual harassment and the relevant IPC laws) around in my bag, and have used one such testimonial letter as a weapon in the last.

When I read the Blank Noise mailer about this project, and the question, "Is there something you don't leave home without?" I answered it in my head so quickly, reflex action like, that I was surprised.

This was followed with surprise that I was surprised. Because I think all of us women in India need a weapon when we venture out (we often need it at our own homes too), and my go-to weapon has been my mobile phone, right since the time cellphones began to make their presence felt in middle and upper class India. I was in college then, living with my parents, and there was only one phone that belonged to my mother which she would insist I take whenever I went out with my friends. It was a nifty way to reach each other if needed. But it was also a very simple tool that gave my family and me a feeling of safety.

This basic phone would evolve into more advanced feature phones with cameras, which would further evolve into smartphones. We in turn evolved into a society where every person had their own phone; to share a phone in our and other demographics seems unreal now. But one of the purposes through all the tech upgrades has for me remained the same as that all those years ago -- it makes me feel safe(r).  

What took me aback was how much of a primary function this is for me when I step out even today. I'd be kidding myself if I said I carried my phone because my work was on it or because I'd need to call/email people during the day. I might. But those don't comprise the primary reason I keep it in my hand or in my pocket when I'm on the road.

The primary reason is I can use it to call someone if I'm being followed, I can take pictures of bikers veering into me, I can act like I am in communication with other people when I'm walking down a dark, silent lane, empty except for a few men loitering around. And maybe because our bodies carry our memories, our fears, our anxieties, this didn't change even when I lived in New York. While I felt much safer in general in NYC than in Calcutta, it wasn't SH incident free (which city is for women?). And my phone was with me through those times. My always available ally, if you will.

Age doesn't change this -- I cannot stress that enough. Age has made me dress exactly the way I like in a rather mutinous, "censure me at your own peril" manner. But looking older doesn't stop street sexual harassment. Hence my phone, my companion when I leave my home; my weapon for about 20 years and counting. It doesn't guarantee my safety -- nothing does, sadly. But it certainly makes me feel safer.

- Action Shero Shuktara Lal

Notes on everyday preparedness :
Action Sheroes / Action Theyroes /
Action Heroes