The cost of fear : why most safety advice is sexist and how we can stop gender-based violence / Meg Stone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stone, Meg (Executive director of IMPACT), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Crimes against--Prevention.

Women.

Women--Violence against--Prevention.

Gender-based violence--Prevention.

Gender-based violence.

Self-defense for women.

Physical Description:

xvi, 214 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Beacon Press, [2025]

Summary:

"When it comes to avoiding violence, most women have gotten a lot of questionable advice, like " don't wear a ponytail; an attacker could grab it" or "don't go shopping alone." Directives like these come mostly from the police or other men in authority, men who abruptly change the subject when you ask for evidence that any of these precautions work. In The Cost of Fear, nationally recognized violence prevention expert Meg Stone helps readers separate fact from fiction. It's full of practical, research-based strategies that women and others who are targeted for gender-based violence can use to keep themselves and their communities safer. Increased safety comes not from complying with rigid rules or avoiding white vans but from developing the skills to resist coercive control, especially from people we know or people in authority. This deeply researched book draws timely connections between personal safety and political change -- from groups as disparate as Latina organizers in California working to stop sexual violence against night-shift janitorial workers and rural moms who face threats and harassment for speaking out against book bans to teenage girls who call out double standards. Crime is going down, but the sharpest declines are in stranger violence against the highest income people. Sexual assault and other gender-based violence are a systemic and political injustice most often enacted in the most intimate spheres of our lives. We all need strategies to navigate our immediate safety, which also add up to social and political change. Every time we alter our lives to avoid violence, we are making a political statement, whether we intend to or not. Crossing the street to avoid a homeless person says one thing. Not leaving your kid alone with a parish priest in the wake of a clergy sexual abuse crisis says another. Working to change laws and change people's minds is essential to reducing gender-based violence, but without providing practical strategies that people who are targeted for this violence can use to protect themselves, the change is incomplete. The Cost of Fear will show how we can make safety choices that expand our worlds and contribute to the fight for social justice" -- Jacket flap.

Contents:

Introduction : Scared and powerful

Part 1 : What holds us back

Monumental, unsatisfying victories

The cost of fear

How not to get strangled by your ponytail

Bad people do bad things

Compliance breeds abuse

Part 2 : What works

Not overreacting

The evidence and its discontents

Part 3 : What moves us forward

Resisting racism

Strengthening activism

Embracing resistance

Conclusion : So, what should I do? What should I tell my daughter?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-214).

Other Format:

Online version: Stone, Meg (Excecutive director of IMPACT) Cost of fear

ISBN:

9780807016220

0807016225

OCLC:

1482188589

Publisher Number:

90101905131