Stop telling women to smile : stories of street harassment and how we're taking back our power

**The debut book from a celebrated artist on the urgent topic of street harassment** Every day, all over the world, women are catcalled and denigrated simply for walking down the street. Boys will be boys, women have been told for generations, ignore it, shrug it off, take it as a compliment. But the harassment has real consequences for women: in the fear it instills and the shame they are made to feel. In __Stop Telling Women to Smile,__ Tatyana Fazlalizadeh uses her arresting street art portraits to explore how women experience hostility in communities that are supposed to be homes. She addresses the pervasiveness of street harassment, its effects, and the kinds of activism that can serve to counter it. The result is a cathartic reckoning with the aggression women endure, and an examination of what equality truly entails. "A celebration of the author's art, a rallying read for women who are fed up with their own harassment experiences, and a statement on how pervasive the problem of street harassment really is, this is a singular and important book. Sitting at the cross-section of social activism, art, community engagement, and feminism, Stop Telling Women To Smile brings to the page the author's arresting and famous street art--featuring the faces and voices of everyday women as they talk about the experience of living in communities that are supposed to be their homes yet are frequently hostile. Among the lessons of the #metoo movement is that countless women experience harassment, and that women are more eager than ever to share experiences and recognize common oppression. Fazlalizadeh has been contributing to these conversations through her street art since 2012. This perfectly timed, singular collection of profiles, short essays, and original artwork unforgettably shows how it affects women based on gender presentation, race, class, age, and other intersecting identities"-- Provided by publisher "In 'Stop telling women to smile' the author uses her street art portraits to explore how women experience hostility in communities that are supposed to be homes. She addresses the pervasiveness of street harassment, its effects, and the kinds of activism that can serve to counter it. The result is a reckoning with the aggression women endure, and an examination of what equality entails."