If you're like many women, from birth you were taught to be passive. While the boys were being rowdy, we were taught to be quiet. While men could argue, we were told to avoid conflict. Be nice. Speak softly. Don't make a fuss.

Now we're adults, and we've discovered that passivity allows people to take advantage of us in both our personal and professional relationships. In response, some women adopt an aggressive stance. Unfortunately, that doesn't usually work either.

If docility encourages disrespect and aggression makes us disrespectful, what choice is there? In "Don't Act Like Prey!," author and women's self-empowerment consultant Susan L. Farrell offers a third option: respectful assertiveness.

Drawing on the natural world and her personal life for examples, Farrell reveals how assertiveness strikes a balance between the passivity that characterizes prey and the aggression that is the mark of a predator. It is in this balance we find a way to stand up for ourselves without harming others or damaging relationships.

Written in clear, straightforward language, Don't Act Like Prey! includes exercises to foster your growing sense of assertiveness. It's time to abandon passivity without embracing aggression. It's time for the empowerment that comes with assertiveness.