Comments on: All Tasered In Pink: The Feminizing of Self-Defense Products

By: Sara

Sara — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:34:00 +0000

Do they have pepper spray for bears in pink?

By: rachelkhona

rachelkhona — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:04:00 +0000

I’m not sure if I’m insulted by the pink, but the seller’s answers ARE insulting. To suggest the author hates men is the oldest and cheapest insult in the book and completely irrelevant. Having read cwinkler’s diatribe, I wouldn’t buy this product just based on the fact that the seller sounds like, for lack of a better phrase, an a-hole.

By: cwinkler

cwinkler — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 05:09:00 +0000

Lets vote on it; Are Pink Self Defense Products Degrading To Women? http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e6639lcch4uof5gn/start

By: Mari

Mari — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:51:00 +0000

Haha actually A LOT of people complain about the female tropes in comics and video games. Not only Wonder Woman or Cat Woman, but also the lesser known female “super heroes” who were created and killed off whenever a male super hero needed a more interesting story line. The phenomenon is called “Women in Refrigerators”. Look it up. Also, I suggest you take a look at how the other commenter expressed their thoughts. That’s how a grown up does it.

By: Mari

Mari — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:46:00 +0000

This was a very insightful and well thought out response. And because you used logic instead of insults, I now better understand your point of view. If only the seller knew how to communicate their feelings they way you do!

By: cwinkler

cwinkler — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:51:00 +0000

Thank you…

By: Allison

Allison — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:15:00 +0000

I’m not opposed to Pinky. I’m not even opposed to pink self-defense items. I think they’re silly, and I’d be more likely to opt for a neutral color myself, but I believe they have their place. If making them in pink means more women buy them, then more women are better equipped to defend themselves. No one is forcing women to buy the pink stuff, anyway – if we don’t want it in pink, we can just buy it in a different color. People must be buying it if the manufacturers are still making it, and if some woman wants a pink taser, then who are we to tell her she can’t have it?

I think the problem comes from women feeling as though the pink items are intended only for them, and the neutral colored ones are intended only for men. It’s easy to feel like manufacturers are patronizing women, but the truth is they just want to sell more of their product, and the pink items target a very specific edge case rather than all women. Pink stuff appeals to women who normally would never even think of buying a cordless drill or a taser, but upon seeing it in pink, realize that the item is not just for men, and that they can use it too. Manufacturers aren’t targeting ALL women with pink stuff – after all, the women who don’t care about the color were probably already buying their product before it came out in pink.

The whole “Pinky is belittling and degrading specifically to women” thing doesn’t really hold up, either. There’s a male mascot too, Sparky. It doesn’t appear as if they’re there to belittle anyone; they’re just goofy company mascots, like the Michelin man or something. I think they’re kind of cute.

By: cwinkler

cwinkler — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Wow, 2 women insulted. Who wooda thunk a simple character derived from a stun gun we developed 5 years ago to help sell these products is so offensive. We actually created it after we created Sparky the Stun Gun, to give him a girl friend. With all the problems in the world, so many people out of work, loosing their jobs, kids killing each other, home invasion robberies every few minutes, etc., on a small website that was started to pay the bills after I lost a job is actually got people talking. Hollywood makes billions off of comic book characters and I don’t see too many people complaining about that. And I used the word “maybe.” Anyone else find Pinky offensive? What about Wonder Woman or Cat Woman? What about all the trash Hollywood is putting out? There sure are a lot of people with paper thin skin & we refuse to be politically correct.

By: Mari

Mari — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:36:00 +0000

At the very least, Pinky is insulting and ineffective. Think about it this way: When a company wants children to buy their products, what do they do? They make that product a bright color and give it a mascot. Because children are superficial. So by doing the same thing to a product marketed towards women, you’re implying that all women are also superficial. I’m not saying companies shouldn’t make products in all colors of the rainbow, but most self defense items are either black or pink. This assumes that if a woman doesn’t like the color black then she must like the color pink. No.

And saying that a woman “hates men” simply because she’s upset about something? Also very offensive.

By: Mari

Mari — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:33:00 +0000

At the very least, Pinky is insulting and ineffective. Think about it this way: When a
company wants children to buy their products, what do they do? They make
that product a bright color and give it a mascot. Because children are
superficial. So by doing the same thing to a product marketed towards
women, you’re implying that all women are also superficial. I’m not
saying companies shouldn’t make products in all colors of the rainbow,
but most self defense items are either black or pink. This assumes that
if a woman doesn’t like the color black then she must like the color
pink. No.