Street Smart Safety for Women

Your Guide to Defensive Living
by Joy Farrow; Laura Frombach

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

📚 In their insightful and empowering book, "Street Smart Safety for Women", authors Joy Farrow and Laura Frombach provide a comprehensive guide to self-protective skills for women. Released on October 3, 2023, this book addresses safety at home, online, and in the world, equipping readers with practical strategies to enhance their personal security.

Key Themes and Insights

- Defensive Living Design: Farrow and Frombach emphasize the importance of adopting safety-oriented behaviors as part of everyday life. Drawing parallels with defensive driving, they encourage women to cultivate awareness and confidence without allowing fear to dominate their thoughts.

- Psychology of Victimization: The authors delve into the psychology of violence from both the attacker's and victim's perspectives. By understanding common characteristics of predators and aggressors, readers gain valuable insights into self-protection.

- Online Risks and Dating: The book explores the specific risks associated with online communication and dating. From recognizing persuasive tactics to evaluating the appropriateness of weapons, Farrow and Frombach provide practical advice for navigating these modern challenges.

- Financial Security: Financial stability is a key aspect of personal safety. The authors discuss ways to establish and maintain financial security, empowering women to make informed decisions.

- From Victim to Victor: Through personal stories and research, the authors guide readers toward a mindset shift—from vulnerability to empowerment. They emphasize the importance of trusting one's safety intuition and resisting manipulation.

Strengths and Considerations

- Informative and Practical: The book combines personal anecdotes, research, and common sense to offer practical tips. The authors' pithy phrasing makes recommendations easy to assimilate and remember.

- Comprehensive Perspective: Farrow and Frombach address various types of violence women may encounter, including physical, emotional, and financial aspects.

What could be improved:
- Occasional Repetitiveness: While the book covers a wide range of topics, some sections feel repetitive.

- Clarity, by maintaining focus on the core thesis.

- Clued-In Material vs. Out-of-Touch Moments: The book balances relevant explanations (e.g., terms like "love bombing" and "the manosphere") with occasional inaccuracies (e.g., comparing IBM to Apple). Readers may question its authoritative qualifications. Where ARE the editors these days?

Overall
However, "Street Smart Safety for Women" is an informative collection of data and advice, which empowers women to reclaim their safety intuition and navigate the complexities of today's world. Whether you're a seasoned reader or new to self-help literature, this book offers valuable insights for women seeking practical solutions to enhance their security. "Remember: Your car is not a drive-thru! Do not ever roll your car window down because a stranger wants you to." 🚗💪🏼

Thank you for allowing me to read this advanced reader's copy of this book! Loved reading this novel, every woman in my opinion should read this novel to learn how to protect herself while on the streets, or even in their day to day lives. Highly recommend!

"Street Smart Safety for Women" was a bit of a disappointment:
there were a lot of repetitions and the topics were dealt with rather superficially in my opinion.
I felt like this lacked actual advice on how to act in certain situations and instead the novel kept reiterating the point that we should develop safety intuition without providing practical advice on how to act.

This is an interesting book that provides a wealth of information for women about how to defend themselves in the world. I didn’t like the personal anecdotes; I skimmed through most of them. But I found the facts and tips to be helpful. Recommended for all women.

This book is good; however, not a book I could continue to read. It brought back to many traumatic memories for me and I had to quit reading it. I was honestly a little disappointed that it wasn’t just about street safety. I understand we need online safety but it’s deceiving calling it street smart safety for women then talk about online stuff and porn. I had to quit reading it at the online chapter about the porn. Hopefully this book is good for someone else. I just wasn’t the target audience.