The act of surprise does add much power to an attack and your best defense is awareness of your surroundings or walking in groups for defense.
Sure, but we do not want to be stuck at home unless we have a group to go out with ! We go to work, we shop, we may want to take a walk.....
And, yes, I remember walking with my youngest and a friend when they were young teens and the friend didnt get why we crossed over to the other side of the street to not walk by a group of men. And, that is because these days people (around here ) do not want to be offensive, or in the case of this young friend literally felt strong and empowered and was not afraid of anything even if she should have been, had no idea there could be dangers. So, of course, awareness is good.
While it would be prudent to have enough awareness to not be within arms reach of anyone, even at the risk of having them take offense. I have heard of women touched or grabbed in that same town, in what passes as the downtown crowded area were you cannot avoid walking within arms length of others, so given that it is California greater Bay Area, and that we do not take care of our mentally ill or punish criminals, it can happen anywhere. This incident was in an area with people.
And, I get why we do walk alone, even when it is safer to walk in groups.
If you are not a woman, you may not know how limiting it is to be told not to jog or hike alone. It is not so easy to just have someone there with you, you just want to go and live your life and get to where you need to get to, or go take that run. The woman in the example up thread was just walking home from work, and quite frankly, at that intersection, it would have been "clowns on the left of me, jokers on the right, and here I am..." She may have picked the clock tower side of the street because it only had one disheveled man, a bit out of shape, as opposed to a group of 4 young ones on the other side. We can be aware and still not be able to avoid all people. So, she walks by the one man, and likely at more than arms length, then he runs up behind her as soon as she passes.... The area in question is not considered a risky place, it was daylight, there were people about, if a woman cant walk alone there, we cant walk alone anywhere.
A few years ago, cant remember, maybe 5 years ago, a different woman, a business owner, was walking home from work from the same small downtown tourist area, in the daylight, in a perpendicular direction from this weeks attack, and out of nowhere a crazed man ran up and attacked her, with a knife, and killed her. Completely random. Some things we can avoid, but it also seems that you are either free or you cage yourself because you can be randomly attacked when you are not in a dangerous area.
Maybe better situational awareness would have us hearing those quick steps towards us, and time to pull out something equalizing, with the risk of looking foolish from time to time with that ka-bar or mace in our hand saying hi to a friend....
I carry pepper spray, on a ring on the outside, hanging off my purse, and I almost had to use it once on a transient woman, as I needed to use the restroom, but it turned out that I moved alot faster than her. Moving quickly and keeping distance, of course, is the best alternative. My hand is on it in many situations, even if most people I know thinks it is silly.
I have seriously considered ways to carry a weapon legally, even if not "yet", for if safety continues to degrade. I am not sure if a fixed blade is effective coming from a small, older woman, it would need a bit of training, but if someone is crazily rushing you, their own weight and momentum would be helpful. A fixed blade can be legally carried if it is not concealed, so a sheath on the outside of your purse, integrated, where the handle can be seen is legal, etc..... A gun can even be carried if it is unloaded and locked ( dont laugh, while not useful against a sneak attack, an awful lot of times people use a gun or wish they have had a gun, they actually have time ) It can be locked in a purse compartment, a messanger bag, etc... The loaded magazine does not have to be locked, etc...
So, maybe if people know of ways to fend off attacks, or resources because people read these threads, that could be dded to this thread