“Loved by Moms and Law Enforcement Alike”: Militarizing Civilian Bodies Through Bulletproof Fashion

Body armor is no longer limited to war and security-oriented occupations. Bulletproof fashion for civilians has joined a domestic “secret arsenal” of sorts, as families with concerns about security acquire technologies to protect body, property, and household members. Bulletproof fashion thrives in the context of fear and anxiety, helps normalize the proliferation of guns and gun violence in US society, and encourages the privatization of what should be regarded as a social problem. This essay is a part of the Roundtable called “The Housewife’s Secret Arsenal” (henceforth HSA); a collection of eight object-oriented engagements focusing on particular material instantiations of domesticated war. The title of this roundtable is deliberately tongue-in-cheek reminding readers of the many ways that militarisms can be invisible to their users yet persistent in the form of mundane household items that aid in the labor of homemaking. Juxtaposing the deliberately stereotyped “housewife” with the theater of war raises questions about the quiet migration of these objects and technologies from battlefield to kitchen, or bathroom, or garden. Gathered together as an “arsenal,” their uncanny proximity to one another becomes a key critical tool in asking how war comes to find itself at home in our lives.