Knives: everyday carry for women
May. 19th, 2024 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellerSo, um, someone not on this site asked me a very interesting question, and because I believe in not wasting a carefully typed text, I'm also posting my answer here. The question was...
Do you recommend everyday carry (of knives) for women?
Sure, if reasonably possible. That is, I firmly believe wearing a knife is generally a good idea, and it’s entirely gender-independent (though the choice of knife is going to depend on biological sex, among other factors). The main purposes of a knife are food preparation, craft and repair work, and everybody should be able to do these things. Carrying a sharp tool is just practical. [Legal note: there are some types of knives that fall under the weapon law, and some situations and places in which carrying any kind of blade is inappropriate and/or illegal. Of course, I recommend knowing and keeping the laws in your area.]
Personally, I don’t wear knives literally every day (not least because, when I’m in the city, there are so many ‘no-knife’ zones scattered everywhere that finding a legal way of getting from A to B without having to cross one can be difficult), but I do so when it's possible. I also definitely wear knives when in the countryside (with bonus points for field trips) and when camping, because not having a knife can be dangerous. Fortunately (in this aspect at least), my hands are so small that all the knives I can reasonably use have blade lengths well below 12cm, which would be the German legal threshold for weapons, meaning that my knives are all legally tools. (There are some other ‘weapon criteria’, but, well, I don’t own anything specifically ‘tactical’, I don’t hunt, and of course I stay the fuck away from illegal weapons anyway, so it’s not an issue.)
Also, on the purely philosophical level, a knife is the most intrinsically human object that exists. I mean, if you ask people what sentience means, sooner or later someone is going to mention the ability to use tools. The knife (or, if we go far enough back in history, the rock with the sharp edge) is the tool that renders humans able to interact with their environment on a level that’s not purely reactive. As such, everyone should have the opportunity to use a knife. I also believe children should learn this skill as soon as reasonably and somewhat safely possible, not just for improving hand-eye coordination but also for the mental health aspect of it. (A knife does so much for connecting a person to their surroundings! I’m not going to discuss the full philosophical, cultural, and spiritual impact of what it means to wear a knife – that would have to be a lengthy and likely quite boring wall of text – but the philosophical purpose of knives goes beyond making sandwiches.) You only learn a skill when you practice it regularly, so, sure, having and regularly using a knife is a good idea.
However, if we’re talking about the specifically American interpretation of ‘everyday carry’, with the idea of having a knife for self-defense: NOPE. That’s a terrible idea. Knives are not defensive weapons. If you get robbed in the street, a) you won’t have the time to take out your knife, and b) it’s a lot safer to just hand over your money. [Technical note: yes, I know there’s a radius within which a knife has better winning chances than a gun, something like 6-7m for trained men and 5-6m for trained women, but also, there’s still a pretty high chance of dying, so, in practice anyone sane is going to hand over their money anyway unless they know for sure the other person is planning to kill them.] If anything, wearing a knife openly increases your risk of being shot if the would-be robber doesn’t want to take the risk of you jumping them. It’s just stupid all around. DON’T DO IT.
Because the question was specifically about women wearing knives: umm. Of course, I’m aware that some people will hand pocketknives to young boys but not to young girls. THAT practice is shitty and sexist. I believe in equal opportunities. (I don’t believe in pocketknives because I’m firmly a fixed-blade girl, and I don’t believe in mass-produced factory knives because those suck, but that’s another matter entirely.) However, there’s no woman-specific knife use. As far as I’m concerned, that’s really a unisex thing.
Do you recommend everyday carry (of knives) for women?
Sure, if reasonably possible. That is, I firmly believe wearing a knife is generally a good idea, and it’s entirely gender-independent (though the choice of knife is going to depend on biological sex, among other factors). The main purposes of a knife are food preparation, craft and repair work, and everybody should be able to do these things. Carrying a sharp tool is just practical. [Legal note: there are some types of knives that fall under the weapon law, and some situations and places in which carrying any kind of blade is inappropriate and/or illegal. Of course, I recommend knowing and keeping the laws in your area.]
Personally, I don’t wear knives literally every day (not least because, when I’m in the city, there are so many ‘no-knife’ zones scattered everywhere that finding a legal way of getting from A to B without having to cross one can be difficult), but I do so when it's possible. I also definitely wear knives when in the countryside (with bonus points for field trips) and when camping, because not having a knife can be dangerous. Fortunately (in this aspect at least), my hands are so small that all the knives I can reasonably use have blade lengths well below 12cm, which would be the German legal threshold for weapons, meaning that my knives are all legally tools. (There are some other ‘weapon criteria’, but, well, I don’t own anything specifically ‘tactical’, I don’t hunt, and of course I stay the fuck away from illegal weapons anyway, so it’s not an issue.)
Also, on the purely philosophical level, a knife is the most intrinsically human object that exists. I mean, if you ask people what sentience means, sooner or later someone is going to mention the ability to use tools. The knife (or, if we go far enough back in history, the rock with the sharp edge) is the tool that renders humans able to interact with their environment on a level that’s not purely reactive. As such, everyone should have the opportunity to use a knife. I also believe children should learn this skill as soon as reasonably and somewhat safely possible, not just for improving hand-eye coordination but also for the mental health aspect of it. (A knife does so much for connecting a person to their surroundings! I’m not going to discuss the full philosophical, cultural, and spiritual impact of what it means to wear a knife – that would have to be a lengthy and likely quite boring wall of text – but the philosophical purpose of knives goes beyond making sandwiches.) You only learn a skill when you practice it regularly, so, sure, having and regularly using a knife is a good idea.
However, if we’re talking about the specifically American interpretation of ‘everyday carry’, with the idea of having a knife for self-defense: NOPE. That’s a terrible idea. Knives are not defensive weapons. If you get robbed in the street, a) you won’t have the time to take out your knife, and b) it’s a lot safer to just hand over your money. [Technical note: yes, I know there’s a radius within which a knife has better winning chances than a gun, something like 6-7m for trained men and 5-6m for trained women, but also, there’s still a pretty high chance of dying, so, in practice anyone sane is going to hand over their money anyway unless they know for sure the other person is planning to kill them.] If anything, wearing a knife openly increases your risk of being shot if the would-be robber doesn’t want to take the risk of you jumping them. It’s just stupid all around. DON’T DO IT.
Because the question was specifically about women wearing knives: umm. Of course, I’m aware that some people will hand pocketknives to young boys but not to young girls. THAT practice is shitty and sexist. I believe in equal opportunities. (I don’t believe in pocketknives because I’m firmly a fixed-blade girl, and I don’t believe in mass-produced factory knives because those suck, but that’s another matter entirely.) However, there’s no woman-specific knife use. As far as I’m concerned, that’s really a unisex thing.
