Do you walk alone?

I’ve always walked alone. Can’t see that changing any time soon.

I'm tall and a good runner. I'm very, very strong for a woman. It didn't stop a man being able to come up behind me and throw me to the floor. The only way I could have got away was if I'd have listened to my instincts and ran when I first saw him behind me.
He was not white though so I thought such an action would be rude stereotyping.
I'm not saying don't go out. And I am certainly not saying it was because he wasn't white. I'm saying that you should trust your instincts. Something primitive in me knew he meant me harm but 'be kind' over rode it. I'm also saying that the women who find themselves in these situations didn't do anything wrong. Being louder, stronger, faster etc. all boils down to a big fat nothing when someone wants to do you harm.
These women were simply unlucky. We should be looking into what we can do to prevent crimes from the perpetrators side, not the victims.

I specifically didn't go to a high street today on my own due to the risk of mugging (?) in a very rough area. I was planning to and really needed some items from a shop there but I decided in the end it just isn't worth the risk. I've gone without instead.
It's a shame we have to think about these things.

Yes, always have.

I try to balance risk Vs freedom.

The only time I felt really vulnerable was when a rapist on campus hadn't yet been caught. So I changed my walking route which cut through the grounds near to one of the attacks to a main road.

I do locally but not in woods etc. I know statistically it's very unlikely anything would happen but I don't like it if someone walks behind me during the day in quiet but not lonely streets. I do have issues with trusting men though. I only trust a select few. I don't like having workmen in the house without my husband home for example.

Yes.

Yes, depending on the isolation or time of day/night, I've had some unnerving incidents/near-misses.

Nothing will stop me from doing this - I'm aware of the risks that I run and that in the event something occurred, I would be victim-blamed.

Yes, I do, and I won't be scared into not doing so.

Yes.

Even in the dark.

I can also run quite fast and have my defences all prepared should the unlikely event occur

Yes I always do. I'm big and tall though which makes me feel safer than smaller women I think. There are places near me I won't go to at night alone because there's a lot of pubs / late night shops in quite a small area and it's full of weird and dangerous men.

Sadly, I don't think a rape alarm would have helped in this case. Isolated spot, the dog in distress didn't bring anyone.
I'm also not even sure how useful rape alarms are. For a start I don't think people would necessarily identify a rape alarm as that- likely to block it out like other urban noise. Secondly, you'd have to set it off timed right. As someone who was rugby tackled from a man by behind (thankfully a mugging) I can't see many situations where you'd get much warning- particularly as women are trained to swallow their discomfort to hope to avoid escalation.

I think the answer is more identify these people early, monitor and get them off the street. Re-educate and reset society to not put up with rampant misogyny and harrasment.

That of course is far too much effort when police can just tell women to curb their freedom.

Yes. Try to hang on to the fact that is statistically very unlikely that anything will happen to you. You can't let fear curtail your whole life.