The Cost of Fear

Why Most Safety Advice Is Sexist and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence

De: Meg Stone

Narrado por: Julie McKay

A violence prevention expert helps targets of gender-based violence discern fact from fiction around what keeps us safe and support social change

Personal safety shouldn’t mean living in fear, nor should it come at the expense of political progress.

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. Increased safety comes from developing the skills to resist coercive control, especially from people we know or people in authority, not from complying with rigid rules or avoiding homeless people on the street.

This deeply researched book draws timely connections between personal safety and political change—from Latina organizers in California working to stop sexual violence against night shift janitorial workers to teenage girls who call out double standards.

Work to change laws and change people’s minds is essential, but without practical strategies, the change is incomplete. The Cost of Fear will show us how we can make safety choices that expand our worlds and contribute to the fight for social justice.

©2025 Meg Stone (P)2025 Beacon Press Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Intriguing . . . This is sure to stir debate.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Stone provides a practical, deeply needed resource that expands rather than diminishes the world for women.”
—Booklist

“The Cost of Fear delivers a compelling critique of the shortcomings of conventional safety practices. Through meticulous evidence-based research and personal stories, Stone suggests more effective strategies for eliminating gender-based violence.”
—Wendy Rouse, author of Her Own Hero