Initially started as a zine to explain the updated science on the physiology and psychological response known commonly as “fight or flight,” Defense Cascade explores the various stages of the cascade of responses that humans and other animals go through when encountering threats or stress. By combining psychological research on the defense cascade, trauma, and selected images from a photographic reference book for artists from 1979, Defense Cascade is both informative about new research and feminist interpretations by selecting images of women and children, the most common victims of abuse and domestic violence, for the symbols of each phase.