"Stone provides a deeply needed resource that expands rather than diminishing options for women." -- Booklist
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 “or “don’t go shopping alone.” The Cost of Fear exposes how sexist safety advice keeps us small - and offers a bold, evidence-based path to true personal and collective safety.
At the intersection of feminism, public safety, and social change, The Cost of Fear empowers us with evidence-based tools to resist coercive control, reclaim our power, and join the fight for social justice - not by shrinking our lives, but by expanding our agency.
A specific image of violence and how to avoid it lives in a lot of our imaginations. What some of us fear most is shaped not by the strongest evidence but by the most viral horror stories.
Meg Stone, a violence prevention expert, traces the origins of these myths and how they are used to scare us into submission. While political leaders and social-media influencers use myths about crime to divide us, this book equips readers with facts and concrete action steps.
Stone breaks down these myths into four parts:
- "How Attackers Behave: what the research shows about whether fighting back makes attackers more angry
- "What (or Who) to Fear": a treatise on the impact of media inaccurately reporting a "crime wave"
- "What You Should Never Do": including the myth that an attacker could grab your ponytail-very unlikely!
- "What You Should Always Do": should you really always trust your intuition?
Each chapter offers practical strategies for people to keep themselves safer and how to contribute to social change that builds a safer world.