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

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 shoppin...