Think Safety

Recently, Asiance Magazine asked me to write a monthly column on women’s safety. Now you might ask yourself, “Who in the world is Candace Kita and why is she writing about women’s safety?” Believe me, a few years ago the thought of writing about safety issues would have never crossed my mind, either. I mean, what a dry topic. Why couldn’t they have asked me to do a column on fashion or food reviews?

But I guess the saying is true: Necessity is the mother of invention. And while I’m an actor by trade, I needed to become a safety expert. Had no choice, in fact.

Why so touchy?

For over five years, I was stalked and harassed by a man I’d never met.

Why me?

Because I appeared in a print ad for a telephone card. How dumb is that? But it caught the attention of one unhinged person and, in the process, very nearly made my life miserable.

Let’s be clear here: I’m not famous. I’m a working actor and model. I’m not an Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston, but I earn a living in the public eye. And I got lucky: my public profile meant that the LAPD’s Threat Management Unit finally took my case. However, in the four years it took for them to accept it, I researched the hell out of inappropriate behavior.

And I discovered that, for the average gal, there is:

(a) little category_idance available for what you should do if a random, potentially dangerous person decides that you’re his reason to live and;
(b) if this could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.

That means there’s a lot of women who need the same category_idance it took me years to find.

In the process of protecting my own information, I realized how much personal information is readily available to just about everyone. The average person puts out as much information about themselves as I did as an actor. With the advent of Chat Roulette, Twitter, Facebook and online dating sites, you can find just about anyone. I began to wonder, “Do women really know the potential consequences of putting so much personal information on their Facebook? Or when they Tweet their class schedules?” It’s an information buffet for sexual predators, stalkers and random weirdos. All it takes to ruin your life is one person for whom the phrase “socially appropriate” is meaningless.

So next month, I’ll talk about what we can do to prevent inappropriate behavior before it happens. You know, nipping it in the bud and getting rid of someone before they cause problems. Because life has enough hassles on its own, right?

An actor and women’s safety advocate, Candace Kita is the author of “The Hottie Handbook: A Girl’s category_ide to Safety.” As a safety specialist, Candace has been interviewed by People, Good Morning America, the Jay Leno Show, Inside Edition, the Los Angeles Times, 48 Hours, the LOGO Network and WHO Australia.