Showing results for "The Women" in Safety & Emergency Preparedness

Questionable advice to avoid violence, like “don’t go shopping alone,” comes mostly from the police or other men in authority. But gender-based violence is often enacted in the most intimate spheres of our lives, not when we’re out grocery shopping. To stop this violence, we need strategies that are just as intimate. In The Cost of Fear, nationally recognized violence prevention expert Meg Stone helps listeners separate fact from fiction. It’s full of practical, research-based strategies that listeners can use to keep themselves and their communities safer.

Women have been culturally trained to discount one of their greatest protections—safety intuition. As women, it is so ingrained in us to attend to everyone else, including strangers on the street, before we listen to ourselves, that we have lost touch with our innate ability to often detect dangerous situations. As the result, we are left generally defenseless to recognize predators who manipulate our natural compassion, to our own detriment.

Don’t walk alone at night. Don’t leave your drink unattended. Don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Most women and nonbinary people are taught these rules, intended to keep us safe from harassment, abuse, and assault, from a young age. While the #MeToo movement has swept the globe and shined a light on the pervasiveness of gender-based violence that led to these “rules,” the fears persist—and for good reason.