E-stores cash in on demand for personal safety gadgets
Print Edition
THERE has been an “enormous rise” in demand in China for self-defense products following the assault on a woman in a Beijing hotel earlier this month, according to online retailers.
On April 5, footage from a surveillance camera emerged showing a woman being throttled in the hallway of a hotel by a man who was handing out cards with prostitute information and thought the woman was a competitor.
The video sparked widespread anger and turned women’s safety and self-defense gadgets into major talking points.
The most popular item has been a portable alarm, which lets out a siren-like at 120 decibels, said a shop owner on taobao.com.
“I sold more than 20,000 alarms over the past two weeks, equaling the total for the six months before the incident,” he said.
Another retailer, Shenzhen Airuize Electronics, said it sold more than 40,000 personal alarms worth about 800,000 yuan (US$123,000) on April 6 alone.
“A prepared woman is worth two women who are not prepared,” a woman wrote on Weibo, adding that she carries a “self-protection stick” when she goes jogging at night.
Personal protection devices can be split into two groups: “defensive” products like alarms and whistles, and “offensive” ones, such as pepper spray and stabbing weapons.
Under Chinese law, the sale of pepper spray and batons is prohibited, and people are not allowed to carry them in the street, said Beijing-based lawyer Li Yongjian.
However, such products are easy enough to purchase from unscrupulous online vendors.
While self-defense gadgets might make a woman feel safer, they can also pose a threat to the user and innocent bystanders.
Pepper spray contains a high concentration of capsaicin, which can cause tears, eye pain, temporary blindness and coughing.
“I once triggered pepper spray by mistake in a 40-square-meter room. I couldn’t go inside it for two hours,” someone said on Weibo.
Earlier this month, a woman with pepper spray wasß stopped by security guards as she tried to enter a Beijing subway station.
Two years ago, two men were jailed for letting off pepper spray in a subway train in south China’s Guangdong Province.
“It is impossible to tell people’s intentions. Pepper spray are forbidden on the underground system,” said a Beijing subway worker.
Lawyer Li said that someone should produce “high-tech” and “safer self-defense products for women” that can deter assailant but that are not illegal.
He didn’t elaborate, but added that the authorities should better monitor the sale of self-defense gear online.
Liu Bohong, a professor at China Women’s University, said women should “learn how to protect themselves,” though what we should strive for is a society in which everyone can feel safe.
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