Please join us for an in-person event celebrating the release of Get Empowered: A Practical Guide to Thrive, Heal, and Embrace Your Confidence in a Sexist World with Lauren R. Taylor. For this event, Taylor will be joined in conversation by Nancy Lanoue.
Please note: Pre-registration for this event is required. By pre-registering, you are verifying that you are fully vaccinated and will wear a mask throughout the entirety of the event.
A practical guide for women, nonbinary, and LGBTQIA+ people to claim our right to be safe, to take up space, and to speak up for ourselves.
Don’t walk alone at night. Don’t leave your drink unattended. Don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
Most women and nonbinary people are taught these rules, intended to keep us safe from harassment, abuse, and assault, from a young age. While the #MeToo movement has swept the globe and shined a light on the pervasiveness of gender-based violence that led to these “rules,” the fears persist—and for good reason.
While men—who commit almost all gender-based violence—are the ones who should be responsible for changing, those of us who are targeted shouldn’t have to wait for the world to transform and become a better place in order to live safer, fuller, more authentic lives.
Through real-life stories, meaningful questions, and interactive exercises, Get Empowered will teach readers to:
Whether you’re looking for ways to stand up for yourself, you’re a survivor focused on healing, or you’re committed to being an ally, this book will give you the tools you need to thrive.
Lauren R. Taylor (she/they) has been working to end gender-based violence since 1978, when she co-founded Washington, DC’s first shelter for abused women and their children. For more than 35 years, she’s been teaching skills for stopping harassment, abuse, and assault to those most often targeted: women, LGBTQIA+ people, children and teens, and disabled people. Her organization, Defend Yourself, has reached some 40,000 people in the DC area and nationally. Taylor’s work has been featured in The Washington Post, Self, HuffPost, and on National Public Radio, Upworthy, Quartz, .Mic, and more. Her writing on interpersonal violence and violence prevention has been widely published in The Washington Post, Everyday Feminism, the Ms. Blog, and other media.
Nancy Lanoue has been teaching Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) since 1979 when she established a storefront ESD training center in NYC. In 1985 she founded the Women’s Gym, Chicago’s first feminist fitness center which in 1990 became Thousand Waves. With her spouse, Sarah Ludden, she co-directed Thousand Waves’ martial arts and self-defense programs for thirty years. Currently, she is teaching martial arts only once a week in order to have time for ESD teaching and teacher-training and for connecting with the worldwide ESD Global movement. She holds teacher certifications from the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation and the Association of ESD Professionals, and a 7th degree black belt in Seido Karate.
Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other questions or access needs, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.
