The Cost of Fear: Why Most Safety Advice Is Sexist and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence

In this intriguing debut treatise, Stone, the director of Impact Boston, an organization that trains women and girls in self-defense, argues that common advice on how to react when threatened with rape and sexual violence is rooted in sexism. Contrary to the notion that a woman ought not to fight back against an attacker for the sake of her own physical safety, Stone cites research showing that “women who physically or verbally fight back are less likely to experience rape” and “fighting back does not increase a person’s chances of serious injury.” Stone attributes such a widespread misperception to the dominance of “compliance culture,” which convinces women and girls that if they follow enough rules they will be safe. In Stone’s dire assessment, such advice begins with things like avoiding walking alone at night and ends with going along with one’s own rape. Stone pulls together a lot of ancillary cultural analysis to make her theory cohere—she describes how getting middle school girls to make any sound of protest during a self-defense training is nearly impossible because they feel such shame over shouting, and also notes how the worst cases of sexual abuse happen in institutional settings (churches, sports teams) where there is high value placed on compliance. This is sure to stir debate. (Feb.)