{"id":18273,"date":"2025-09-18T15:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=18273"},"modified":"2025-09-24T17:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:22:56","slug":"reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/","title":{"rendered":"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

After the violent death of the 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam, the Dutch government wants to investigate whether pepper spray can be legalized. This would enable women to defend themselves better in unsafe situations. The question is whether that is truly a solution: \u2018In this way we are unfairly placing responsibility on the victim.’<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A new debate is currently taking place in Dutch politics: how do we ensure that women can get home safely at night and is pepper spray the\u00a0answer? In Germany, it is already allowed: \u2018Pepper spray may be purchased and carried if it is clearly labelled as\u00a0an animal-defence spray.\u00a0Its use against humans is legally permitted\u00a0only in situations of self-defence\u00a0but outside of such situations its use\u00a0may be considered unlawful\u2019, tells Maria Arnis, interdisciplinary gender and violence researcher, specialised in sexual violence against women and crime prevention at the Universit\u00e4t Erlangen-N\u00fcrnberg.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the Netherlands, however, pepper spray is illegal. That may soon change, but experts are critical of this proposal.\u00a0\u2018By reintroducing pepper spray, we create a false sense of security while the real issue is much broader and structural\u2019,\u00a0says Pauline Aarten, program manager at Fonds Slachtofferhulp in The Netherlands, specialised in femicide and sexual violence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The effectiveness of pepper spray<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Pauline Aarten describes it as a challenging debate: \u2018With pepper spray, we place responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator.\u2019 According to Aarten, this reflects a recurring social narrative: that women themselves must take action in dangerous situations. \u2018We have to get rid of that,\u2019 Aarten emphasizes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In practice, Aarten says, it would not be as effective as thought, since 70% of victims who are attacked experience a freeze reaction and are not able to grab and use pepper spray:\u00a0\u2018We might even end up with a situation where victims are told: \u2018\u2018Now we\u2019ve given you the tools, and you still didn\u2019t use them.\u2019\u2019 Once again, the blame is shifted onto the victim.\u2019<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There is also a new ethical issue: when is it acceptable for a woman to use pepper spray, and when not?\u00a0\u2018Suppose a man is harassing a woman and, out of fear, she uses the spray. He hasn\u2019t touched her yet but is behaving in an intimidating way. Then there\u2019s a chance the situation could be turned around, and the woman suddenly is seen as the offender. Once again, this puts the burden on women to take responsibility for their own safety\u2019, says Aarten.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\r\n
\"\"<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\"\"<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

German raise of pepper spray\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Maria Arnis understands the raise of awareness after the brutal murder of the 17-year-old Lisa: \u201810 years ago on New Years Eve, 1200 woman were reported in Germany to have been assaulted in one night and caused a significantly raise of the sale of pepper spray, particularly under women. Unfortunately, police or researchers point out that this feeling of safety does not always correspondent to its actual effectiveness in dangerous situations\u2019, stresses Arnis.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018If you propose to introduce pepper spray, you don\u2019t really understand the problem\u2019, says Aarten. \u2018The government needs to take action, that requires money,\u2019\u00a0continues Pauline Aarten. She argues that there is simply not enough funding for school education, awareness campaigns to make the topic more discussable at home and improving cooperation between women\u2019s organizations.\u00a0\u2018It is painful to see that money currently outweighs the lives and safety of women\u2019, Aarten stresses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to Aarten, much more can already be done to protect women:\u00a0\u2018We already know so much, from the red flags of femicide to ways of supporting women. That\u2019s why we need a government that takes steps and stops merely debating.\u2019<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the violent death of the 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam, the Dutch government wants to investigate whether pepper spray can be legalized. This would enable women to defend themselves better in unsafe situations. The question is whether that is truly a solution: \u2018In this way we are unfairly placing responsibility on the victim.’ A new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2535,"featured_media":18280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbj","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019 - International Journalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019 - International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After the violent death of the 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam, the Dutch government wants to investigate whether pepper spray can be legalized. This would enable women to defend themselves better in unsafe situations. The question is whether that is truly a solution: \u2018In this way we are unfairly placing responsibility on the victim.’ A new […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-18T13:18:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-24T15:22:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justine van Overeem\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justine van Overeem\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/\",\"name\":\"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019 - International Journalism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-18T13:18:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-24T15:22:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/1b4838acf7ca95a28c403522b55119c4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"This is a staged scenario - Photographer: Justine van Overeem\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/\",\"name\":\"International Journalism\",\"description\":\"HU School voor Journalistiek Nieuwssite\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/1b4838acf7ca95a28c403522b55119c4\",\"name\":\"Justine van Overeem\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f0f0b16c2272b3daead3553d7a0abff3f6c5604856d656b0f42241ae4c4c04f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f0f0b16c2272b3daead3553d7a0abff3f6c5604856d656b0f42241ae4c4c04f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justine van Overeem\"},\"description\":\"Justine van Overeem is 22 jaar oud en woont in Den Haag. Al 3 jaar is ze actief binnen de journalistiek en maakt ze verschillende audio- en videoreportages over actuele en relevante onderwerpen.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/author\/justine-vanovereem\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019 - International Journalism","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019 - International Journalism","og_description":"After the violent death of the 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam, the Dutch government wants to investigate whether pepper spray can be legalized. This would enable women to defend themselves better in unsafe situations. The question is whether that is truly a solution: \u2018In this way we are unfairly placing responsibility on the victim.’ A new […]","og_url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/","og_site_name":"International Journalism","article_published_time":"2025-09-18T13:18:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-24T15:22:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Justine van Overeem","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justine van Overeem","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/","name":"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019 - International Journalism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-18T13:18:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-24T15:22:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/1b4838acf7ca95a28c403522b55119c4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/09\/IMG_0968-kopie-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"This is a staged scenario - Photographer: Justine van Overeem"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/18273\/reintroduction-of-pepper-spray-places-responsibility-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrator\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reintroduction of pepper spray: \u2018Places responsibility on the victim instead of the perpetrator\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/","name":"International Journalism","description":"HU School voor Journalistiek Nieuwssite","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/1b4838acf7ca95a28c403522b55119c4","name":"Justine van Overeem","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f0f0b16c2272b3daead3553d7a0abff3f6c5604856d656b0f42241ae4c4c04f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f0f0b16c2272b3daead3553d7a0abff3f6c5604856d656b0f42241ae4c4c04f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justine van Overeem"},"description":"Justine van Overeem is 22 jaar oud en woont in Den Haag. Al 3 jaar is ze actief binnen de journalistiek en maakt ze verschillende audio- en videoreportages over actuele en relevante onderwerpen.","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/author\/justine-vanovereem\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2535"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18273"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18654,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18273\/revisions\/18654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}