Equiping a female character

I'm coming up with a list of stuff that one of my characters is likely to have upon her when shit starts to happen - which is basically the clothes she's wearing and her purse/handbag/multidimensional bag-of-holding that no man dare probe into, and the mysterious contents thereof...

I was hoping some of the handbag-toting tropers on here would be able to let me know if the following seems realistic/reasonable/plausible and if I've got the stuff matched with the personality.

She's a fairly independent 21st-Century urban woman in her late twenties to early thirties, frequently out and about, goes where the mood takes her.

I'm thinking in terms of her having the following in her handbag/purse/extradimensional portal:

• Lipstick
• Mirror
• Perfume
• Hand lotion
• Tampons
• Toilet paper
• Small pack of hand wipes
• Victorinox Classic SD pocket knife
• Hair brush
• Travel toothbrush
• Paracetamol
• Adhesive plasters
• Pistol
• Spare magazine
• Pepper spray
• Cigarettes
• Lighter
• Smartphone(incl. MP 3 player, camera etc)
• Headphones
• eBook reader
• USB charger (suitable for both phone and ebook reader)
• Data stick
• Wallet - cards and banknotes
• Change purse
• Keys – on keyring with small LED light
• Mints - Tic-Tacs or similar
• Chocolate bar
• Muesli bar
• Sunglasses
• Notepad and pen

edited 7th Jul '13 2:30:05 AM by Wolf1066

• Lipstick
• Mirror
• Perfume Maybe
• Hand lotion Probably not.
• Tampons
• Toilet paper Probably not. Maybe a purse pack of kleenex.
• Small pack of hand wipes
• Victorinox Classic SD pocket knife
• Hair brush
• Travel toothbrush Why?
• Paracetamol
• Adhesive plasters
• Pistol
• Spare magazine
• Pepper spray
• Cigarettes
• Lighter
• Smartphone(incl. MP 3 player, camera etc)
• Headphones
• eBook reader
• USB charger (suitable for both phone and ebook reader)
• Data stick
• Wallet - cards and banknotes
• Change purse
• Keys – on keyring with small LED light
• Mints - Tic-Tacs or similar
• Chocolate bar
• Muesli bar
• Sunglasses
• Notepad and pen

edited 7th Jul '13 3:43:28 AM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Cheers for that, Maddy.

I was thinking travel toothbrush as she occasionally stays out all night, crashes over at a friend's place or whatever and likes to have one with her. Doesn't carry toothpaste as there's likely to be some wherever she stops over.

Small amount of toilet paper just in case there's none in any given public loo. But a small pack of tissues may suffice?

Hand lotion as it was mentioned as being something a lot of women carry in their hand bags to prevent cracked skin during cold weather.

A google search of handbag contents listed folding toothbrush and toilet paper among things that some women carry, hand lotion came up a lot more frequently.

Can ditch hand lotion and TP if you don't think they fit the personality/lifestyle, though.

I'm not casting her as the sort that likes a lot of make-up - a bit of "lippy" and she's ready to go out.

edited 7th Jul '13 4:30:40 AM by Wolf1066

Not a handbag toter myself. However, I've had to rifle through enough (to help them find stuff!) in my time to have a reasonable idea of what they may contain. For the most part, each item that you listed could reasonably be found inside a woman's handbag. However, contrary to popular belief, a woman's handbag is not actually a TARDIS and so, it wouldn't be reasonable for all the items that you listed to be found in that one handbag at the same time.

With that in mind, certain combinations are unlikely to appear. For instance, it would be unlikely that a woman would carry both, a pistol AND a pepper spray, at the same time since they both essentially serve the same function. Also, there are a few items I found a little strange; namely toilet paper and headphones. It would be likelier and make more sense if she was carrying a packet of Kleenex (as they can also be used to remove makeup) and earphones instead.

Lastly, bear in mind that most women own more than one bag; especially if she's an "independent 21st-Century urban woman in her late twenties to early thirties", with different ones serving different purposes and they don't generally transfer the contents back and forth between them every single time. As such, the contents of her handbag are likely going to reflect the occasion. For instance, it would be unlikely that a woman would try cramming her eBook reader in her clutch for a night out on the town. Conversely, the handbag she carries to the gym would likely contain a lot of makeup and assorted products.

Hope this helps. If you want to do more research, you could try searching Youtube. There are lots of videos of people showing/going through the contents of their handbag (a.k.a purse in the U.S.).

Cheers for that.

I'd argue that pepper spray and pistol don't quite serve the same purpose - one's got longer range and can only be used if lethal force is justified.

I had a look at a number of pages showing what some women routinely carry (the one who had handcuffs in hers was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser...)

A good point that she would likely carry a subset of those sorts of things depending on where she was heading when the adventure started.

EDIT: "headphones" is probably the wrong word. I was thinking of those lightweight "over the ear" things that give better sound quality than earbuds but are still fairly light and compact.

edited 7th Jul '13 5:34:29 AM by Wolf1066

A gun and pepper spray both serve the same function, which is self defense. As would a knife or a rape alarm. Most of the time, the person intends to intimidate the threat with these tools rather than actually using them (especially a gun or a knife). Moreover, when under threat, the average civilian (i.e. non-cop, non-soldier) wouldn't really be thinking whether shooting would be justified, etc. Their focus would be more towards "Please let me and/or my friends get out of this alive" rather than "Will I get into trouble if I shoot him?". This mentality would be especially so for a woman who would carry a firearm or pepper spray in her handbag rather than on her person. As any personal protection instructor would tell you, rummaging through one's handbag for one's gun/pepper spray would take precious time away from you in the event of an attacker.

All in all, a civilian - regardless of gender - is unlikely to be walking around with a gun AND pepper spray at the same time. That would be more in keeping with a police officer out on duty.

edited 7th Jul '13 5:58:23 AM by peasant

Cheers for that.

I don't consider having a gun, a knife, and pepper spray all at the same time to be unreasonable or unrealistic. (Well, except for the gun. A purse is a lousy place — in many cases, the worst possible place— to carry a gun. If you want a dissertation on responsible-carry practices, I'd be happy to oblige though, so say so if you do.) Anyway, while both the gun and the spray are for self-defense, they're of greatly differing degrees of lethality, and they get a very different response by law enforcement if she uses one of them.

Speaking as a middle-aged woman, I would quite probably get the pepper spray out of my purse before I got out of the car and carry it in my hand if I was walking through an area I felt was threatening. I would not do the same with a gun. In other words, I would have no qualms at all about having the spray at the ready if I was at all uneasy about my surroundings.

The knife (especially the one you name,) is more of a tool than a weapon.

edited 7th Jul '13 9:18:31 AM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

At the risk of hijacking the topic, I would first like to say that carrying both, a gun and pepper spray at the same time potentially exposes a person at greater liability and criminal charge. In the event of a fatal shooting, a prosecutor might raise why you didn't just use the pepper spray and run or that a situation did not warrant lethal action given that you had options at your disposal.

And bringing back to the main topic... based on what I've come across in the literature, the vast majority of women do not carry guns. Only approximately 15% of women own guns, of which the vast majority is kept at home for self defense or used for hunting or at the gun range. Only about 1-2% of women are legally licensed to carry a gun in public; assuming Arizona's statistics are representative of the United States in general. As such, this makes the probability that a woman has both, a gun and pepper spray at the same time really, really low.

Lastly, Madrugada... may I ask if you carry a gun along with your pepper spray? I ask this because you have clearly thought about personal safety and preparing yourself. If you only carry one such tool for personal protection - be it because you felt one alone was sufficient or because the idea of carrying a gun felt too intimidating - this might suggest that other women would think and prepare the same way.

---

Now, really dialing it back to the original question, I think the main items that people would readily accept and expect to find in a woman's handbag would be her wallet, phone, keys, basic makeup and other similar cosmetic goods, over-the-counter medication (e.g. paracetamol, aspirin, ibuprofen, OCP), and items for personal hygiene (e.g. tissue). For everything else, you would probably need or want to justify (e.g. a flash drive for work).

Which would be my main piece of advice... For every item not listed above, be able to justify its presence and find a way to bring that reasoning up. This way, even the most unlikely items would be acceptable.

edited 7th Jul '13 10:14:51 AM by peasant

Arizona is not representative, for the simple reason that Arizona has far more liberal carry laws than most other states.

To your question about my own carry practices, I don't carry a gun at all, because I live in a state which currently does not allow carry by anyone who isn't active or retired law enforcement (Illinois) and I am neither. That will be changing soon, and I intend to get a carry permit at that time. I will continue to carry both pepper spray and a knife even if I am carrying a gun, though, because a gun is, to me, a last-resort — using it will open up a horrific investigation no matter what the circumstances.

And peasant, your last piece of advice is really, really good. Sometimes the justification is as simple a "I didn't take it out after the last time I wanted to have it along", though.

edited 7th Jul '13 10:23:36 AM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Here are the contents of my handbag.

• ID documents
• Wallet with money and debit cards
• Keys
• Some newspapers
• One or two books (currently Pushkin and Strugatsky Brothers)
• Comb
• Cigarette lighter
• USB flash stick
• Earphones

Granted that I'm hardly a typical urban female twenty-something. I live in a country with very strict gun control laws, so no gun. I'm neither a fan of gadgets nor rich enough to afford them. I stick to a very "natural image" so I don't carry make-up, perfume or mirrors. And I don't carry hygienic stuff unless I'm sure I'll need it right today.

edited 7th Jul '13 10:41:58 AM by aurora369

I'll throw my two cents of conscrit in.

If I understand the purpose of this exercise properly, your trying to set parameters for the character so everything she can do and every item she can use is set ahead of time. The issue is that a reader wouldn't care as much if someone randomly presented a previously unmentioned pack of napkins the same way they would care if someone randomly presented a gun or superpower or wads of cash. You really shouldn't worry about planning things like "who has napkins?" ahead of time.

The ones that will be more or less assumed by the reader (As in, the reader wont care if you end up writing them in without planning to) will be marked in italics. Things like that are more or less assumed to be in quite a few purses, and so do not contribute anything to characterization. Things I believe to be helpful to writing this character will be marked with a +.

Lipstick - assumed, but you can potentially use it for characterization (IE: how often she wears it).

Mirror- I'm neutral on this.

• Perfume+ How much she uses, how obvious it is, how expensive it is, and how often she uses it will say allot about her character.

Tampons - Unless periods are a major plot point somehow, this is kind of TMI. purse pack of kleenex. -More or less assumed.

Small pack of hand wipes -More or less assumed. Unless she is a germophobe who uses them constantly theres no point in drawing attention to these.

• Victorinox Classic SD pocket knife+- a persons choice of pocket knife says allot about their character.

Hair brush- more or less assumed

Paracetamol Adhesive plasters

• Pistol+ - This is unique and character important.
• Spare magazine+- this is also unique
• Pepper spray+
• Cigarettes+ Smoking adds a layer of characterization.
• Lighter+ see above
• Smartphone+(incl. MP 3 player, camera etc)- While its generic, it also marks her as interested in keeping up with technology rather than old fashioned.

Headphones assumed if she owns smartphone with MP 3 player. You dont need to plan these out unless she has an iconic pair that makes her stand out.

eBook reader- (Wouldn't the smartphone have e-book functions?) USB charger Assumed unless there's a plot point where she forgets it somewhere.

• Data stick+ what is on it can add to character

Wallet - assumed if she is a modern working class citizen Change purse ^ same

• Keys+ – on keyring with small LED light - The keys are redundant, the keyring adds character.

Mints - more or less redundant, but up to you. Chocolate bar (wouldn't this melt during the summer and get everywhere?) Muesli bar- this works better Sunglasses- More or less assumed, but you can give them description to add character.

• Notepad and pen+ Make sure you give a description of what she uses it for, it will add character.

Personally I don't understand these "whats in the characters bag?" writing prompts. Unless every one of these is a Chekovs gun, advances characterization, or is plot important, there's no reason to go into such detail and doing so could throw off the reader. But hey, if it helps you write then to each their own.

(EDIT: Oh God the formatting. Ill fix that later)

edited 7th Jul '13 10:47:28 AM by SalmonPunch

"You like Castlevania, don't you?"

It's worth noting that, in modern society at least, nobody really uses lethal firearms for self defense. Nobody concerned about their own safety will turn a robbery into a life or death struggle. Then again, we don't have non-euclidian handbags either, and as best I can tell most countries only give concealed firearm permits to people who really need them, so the world you're writing might be different in that regard.

Depending on where she lives, I'd recommend something to keep out the elements. A travel-size rain poncho, for example.

Fire, air, water, earth...legend has it that when these four elements are gathered, they will form the fifth element...boron.

You're very wrong, though it'd better if you were correct.

Nous restons ici.

I'm going to have to second the sentiment that while none of those things individually sounds particularly out of the ordinary for someone to have in a purse, it is an awful lot of items in a purse.

Let's see, what do I have in my purse right now...

• ereader
• notebook
• tin of pens and pencils
• two packages of .05 pencil lead
• erasers
• tape measure
• wallet
• earbuds
• keys
• USB drive
• tampons
• passport

and a bunch of odd pamphlets and receipts (those things tend to accumulate in purses and make it difficult to find items, fyi). Some days I have a small sketchbook with me too, but then again I'm not really usual — especially the fact that I do not have a phone on me.

However the point is that I have a pretty large bag and it's already to the point of "full". Anything more and it would have trouble closing. If you're trying to make a Checkov's purse, you should probably go to a department store and get an idea of how big her bag is and how much she could reasonably fit in there.

Ok, I'll do an actual inventory of what's usually in my bag, when I carry a bag. Usually, I simply carry a clutch wallet, not a purse...

• A sketch book
• a couple pens and at least one mechanical pencil (clipped to the spiral binding of the sketch pad.)
• A hairbrush
• My cigarettes (if I'm not carrying a bag, these are in my pocket)
• A tape measure
• an eraser
• a book to read
• A spare pad (I don't use tampons)
• My glasses if I'm wearing my sunglasses.
• a can of pepper spray
• my keys
• My clutch, which contains
  • My id
  • my various cards — ATM saver clubs, secondary ID and membership cards, that sort of thing.
  • my business-card case
  • my lighter
  • My phone
  • my checkbook
  • a lipgloss
  • another pen
  • a pocketknife
  • a nailfile
  • a challenge coin for a group I belong to.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Mads, we're tape measure buddies!

• Lipstick
• Mirror
• Perfume
• Hand lotion - a bit bulky, but I used to have it in mine.
• Tampons - she's very prepared, so it works fine
• Toilet paper - I don't think anyone carries that in their purse.
• Small pack of hand wipes
• Victorinox Classic SD pocket knife
• Hair brush
• Travel toothbrush
• Paracetamol
• Adhesive plasters
• Pistol - keeping it in with all the other items sounds dangerous.
• Spare magazine
• Pepper spray
• Cigarettes
• Lighter
• Smartphone(incl. MP 3 player, camera etc)
• Headphones
• eBook reader
• USB charger (suitable for both phone and ebook reader)
• Data stick
• Wallet - cards and banknotes
• Change purse
• Keys – on keyring with small LED light
• Mints - Tic-Tacs or similar
• Chocolate bar
• Muesli bar
• Sunglasses - they'll get very scratched up.
• Notepad and pen

---

Whoops. Took it off.

edited 7th Jul '13 2:12:24 PM by UmLovely

RISE

Lovely, I'm pretty sure he meant a spare magazine for the pistol, not a spare magazine as reading material.

A lot of really good points raised and helpful suggestions.

Oh So Into Cats is quite correct - spare magazine is for the pistol. I should have clarified that, sorry.

I was thinking in terms of her having one of those purses that has a concealed compartment designed to hold a pistol so that it can be easily/quickly accessed and is separate from the main compartment(s) of the purse. Just having a pistol dumped in amongst other stuff would be quite dangerous and make it hard to access if you have to rummage through till receipts and ticket stubs etc to find it.

Maddy and Peasant, excellent viewpoints on the carrying of weapons.

Yep. Great advice.

Salmon Punch, thanks for the break-down of contents. The small pocket knife is her substitute for nail clippers (folding scissors) and file and is just that bit more versatile (it has the knife and small screwdriver, tweezers and toothpick/probe (at the very least, good for getting at the recessed reset switch on some cellphones)) and is, indeed, indicative of her character.

I was thinking the dedicated ereader for larger screen size/ease of reading than the phone, but it's not essential and would, as you point out, most likely be one of the smartphone's functions. Bulky, and could easily be dropped to keep the contents of the bag down to realistic proportions.

I'm not planning to itemise each and everything in her bag in advance but a lot is going to become important in story - she's going to go from her urban environment to Survival In Extremis (as my mountain safety manual puts it) for an extended period of time with nothing but her clothes and bag. Some of her bag's contents could conceivably be repurposed (use the lipstick to write a fairly indelible message on something if need be, the compact mirror could be used as an emergency signal/heliograph - everyone knows the Morse code for SOS) other things would be handy to have if caught out anywhere, but I also don't want it to be a staggering coincidence that everything she has can be repurposed as a survival tool so there would be stuff that has absolutely no function except that it's likely to be in a 21st Century person's possession. Other things would be pure characterisation. e.g. a small bottle of perfume because she'd been out partying/clubbing the night before.

Maddy, I like your take on the use of pepper spray. From the illustrations I've seen, I dare say a canister of spray cupped in the palm of the hand when exiting a car would also be a lot less noticeable than a pistol.

Your clutch sounds like a survival kit in itself.

Rem, great suggestion about the travel poncho, the one in my survival kit is folded up smaller than a notepad, weighs practically nothing and costs NZ$3. It makes sense to carry one if out-and-about.

Aurora369, you mention lighter but not cigarettes, how come you carry a lighter with you? A lighter is a plot necessity, my character's in-story justification is that she's a smoker, so of course she has a lighter.

edited 7th Jul '13 3:44:10 PM by Wolf1066

Since I generally carry only my clutch, it has everything I consider necessary to have along. I'm going to be devastated when the current one finally wears out. Finding a replacement with enough room for everything is going to be a pain.

Ok, you're talking about a purse holster for the gun. I guess I'll give you the short version of why a purse holster is one of the worst ways to responsibly carry a gun. The biggie is very simple: Every time you let go of your purse, your gun has left your control. Every. Single. Time. Anyone who picks up your purse now has control of your gun. No matter where you set it, if you are not holding your purse, the gun has left your control. Set it down on the coffee table in front of you? You've relinquished control. Put it in the basket of your shopping cart? You've relinquished control. Put it on the floor by your feet in the restaurant? You've relinquished control. Hang it on the hook on the door of the dressing room? You've relinquished control. Get the picture?

Now, on to the other point that makes a purse holster a poor choice: You have to reach into a particular compartment of the purse in order to reach the trigger. That compartment is either in-between or inside of the main compartments. In short, you're still maneuvering your hand around inside your purse to get at your gun. Additionally, the gun compartment should be fastened shut — so now you're opening your purse, opening the gun compartment, getting your hand in position to either draw or fire, and finally, only then, after a bunch of fooling about, can you use the gun.

edited 7th Jul '13 3:52:57 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Many many thanks for that, Maddy. So I should be looking at her using a proper concealed carry holster for her pistol.

And another bulky thing gone from her purse. Two things, presuming she's also carrying the spare mag on her person.

I'm well aware that the presence of a second mag is likely to be an eye opener and may have to be lampshaded... "how much trouble were you expecting to encounter that you considered you might have to reload?"

edited 7th Jul '13 4:13:09 PM by Wolf1066

I'd say yes, a proper carry holster is a good idea. There are lots of possibilities: waistband (with all its variations — inside/outside; front, side, side-back/kidney, small of the back) thigh, ankle, shoulder, center-bra rig, and side-bra rig.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

What model pocket knife do you carry, Maddy.

I usually have a Victorinox Spartan in my pocket and a Leatherman Wave in a pouch on my belt. I also used to carry a Victorinox Classic SD but I seem to have mislaid it - pity, as that thing has opened more computer and monitor boxes and opened up more computers than I can remember (did you know that the screwdriver blade on the Classic SD is exactly the right size to fit across the torx screws of which Compaq was so enamoured?) It got more use than the tools my employer supplied me with as I always had it on me while the bulky tool kit was invariably left on my work bench.

I omitted the usual till receipts, ticket stubs etc from my above list, though they may well make an appearance in story. I know that if I were suddenly thrust into a survival situation I've probably got enough till receipts stuffed into my wallet (I tend to just shove them in there along with my debit card as the shop keepers invariably hand them back at the same time) that I wouldn't need to hunt around for dry tinder to start a fire...

A Explorer Rogue-I folder. Long since discontinued, but it looks pretty much like this one, except it's not bright yellow, it's all stainless steel, and the grip on mine is skeletonized. Overall length folded is just under 3.5 inches, blade length is just over 2.5 and it's a little slimmer in shape than the blade on that one.

Edited — it's not a spyderco. the brand is "Explorer". And it looks a lot more like this than it does like that Spyderco.

edited 7th Jul '13 4:43:45 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.