The Sexual Alarm System, explains how women are so accustomed to sexual fear that—without our awareness—our bodies are constantly on guard, like a low-level hum. Leavitt calls this adaptation the sexual alarm system (SAS). The SAS keeps us on high alert, preparing us for “the possibility of abuse,” because we know it’s possible and “we are alert and watching out for it. Otherwise, we would go out for a walk anywhere at any time of night, or travel freely anywhere in the world, or not worry about the men on the street following us.”11
