In the Press
Press features and media coverage of IMPACT Boston's self-defense and violence prevention work, including interviews, articles, and news segments from outlets like WBUR, Boston Globe, and NBC Boston.
Media Coverage
IMPACT Boston has earned widespread recognition across local and national media for its innovative approach to personal safety and community empowerment. From in-depth features in the Boston Globe and Washington Post to broadcast segments on WBUR, NBC Boston, and CBS Boston, the organization's programs have consistently drawn attention for their impact. Coverage spans a broad range of topics — self-defense for students with disabilities, de-escalation training for essential workers, bystander intervention, and fitness-based recovery for survivors of sexual assault. These stories reflect IMPACT Boston's reach across schools, workplaces, shelters, and communities throughout the region and beyond.
Don't Fight Back" Is a Myth
51 Percent
Host Jesse King speaks with Meg Stone, violence prevention expert and executive director of IMPACT Boston about her upcoming book "Don't Fight Back" And 10 Other Myths About Crime, Personal Safety, and Gender-Based Violence.
Don’t Fight Back? Rethinking Women’s Safety
Girl, Wake Up!
Amy and Meg discuss what happens when the legal process becomes emotionally, financially, and psychologically exhausting, especially for protective mothers and survivors of abuse.
WMC Live with Robin Morgan
Women’s Media Center Live
Host Robin Morgan explores different ways of resistance, with guest Meg Stone discussing her book The Cost of Fear: Why Most Safety Advice is Sexist and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence.
The I Have The Right To Podcast
Aspire
Hosts Katie Shipp, Chessy Prout, and Gabriel Viscogliosi sit down with Meg Stone, violence prevention expert, IMPACT Boston executive director, and author of The Cost of Fear for a conversation about reclaiming safety, autonomy, and resistance.
The Cost of Fear with author Meg Stone
Breaking Down Patriarchy Podcast
Amy is joined by author Meg Stone to discuss her book, The Cost of Fear, digging into the difference between safety through compliance and safety through resistance, plus practical self-defense suggestions and what we can do to stop gender-based violence.
Meg Stone on “The Cost of Fear”
51 Percent
Host Jesse King takes a feminist self-defense course with IMPACT Boston Executive Director Meg Stone. In her book The Cost of Fear, Stone argues that the majority of safety advice given to women, like "Don't walk at night" or "Don't put your hair in a ponytail" is well-meaning but sexist, and doesn't actually address gender-based violence at scale.
A Woman Traveling Alone? The World Can Be Your Oyster, Too
Kari Bodnarchuk
The author recounts quitting her job and traveling solo for 18 months through Asia and the South Pacific. The article directly credits IMPACT Boston: she took a one-night IMPACT course before her trip, and the skills helped her fend off an attacker in Indonesia she stood her ground, screamed, and walked away unscathed, continuing to travel solo for another 10 months.
Self-defense can be hard to remember under stress.
The Washington Post
The article addresses a nationwide spike in violent crime and growing demand for self-defense training, then rounds up expert-backed tips across three categories verbal, physical, and online plus bystander strategies.
Dreading More Harassment When Masks Come Off? Here's How to Respond.
The Washington Post
Meg Stone, director of IMPACT Boston, notes that research supports forceful resistance as an effective way to stop harassment when it's safe to do so saying something assertive but non-escalating like "stop," "leave me alone," or "no" can be very effective.