Self-defense tools range from mace, to pull alarms, to even safety keychains.

Being in college, you have probably been told, whether by a parent, a friend, or a professor, the importance of having one of these tools on you.

However, when you go to pick one up at your local store, you look at a display of pink and glittery tools directed toward women.

There are two issues with this.

One, what kind of world do we live in that an topic like self-defense is an issue for women and only women?

Two, why, as a society, are we more concerned about arming our citizens for protection rather than teaching them not to sexually assault others?

To start with the first issue, sexual assault can happen to anyone.

It is not just an issue for a specific gender.

It is an issue for everyone. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in sixteen men will be raped in their college career.

Granted, these statistics show that the likelihood of being sexually assaulted is greater for women.

However, men are still involved in this issue.

Society should be protecting them as much as they protect women.

We are all humans, we all deserve that right.

Society views men as these big, macho beasts that bullets bounce off of, who don’t need any protection other than their own two hands.

We forget they are humans, with emotions and feelings just like women.

By only catering self-defense tools to the women, the men are basically being told to take care of themselves.

Self-defense tools should be more than just covered in glitter with hearts and kittens. They should be useful and practical for all genders.

When it come to the second issue, just arming our citizens with tools to protect themselves against situations of sexual assault is not fixing any issues.

If society wants to truly protect its citizens, than society needs to be harsher on this disgusting behavior.

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, or RAINN, 994 out of 1000 sexual assault perpetrators will walk free.

When a person that has committed this crime is allowed to walk the streets, they will continue to get away with further sexual assault crime. This needs to be stopped. For the good of society and all the people in it.

Sexual Assault is a serious issue that affects women and men alike. RAINN, reports that every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. That equates to 321,500 people, ages 12 and older, become victims every year in America.