No offense, but this all seems really dramatic. As a woman who frequently walks alone at night (multiple times a week), I do not appreciate your advice.

I try to stay alert and on guard, but most men do not scare me. I do not need men altering the way they walk so as to not threaten me somehow with their mere presence. I do not want men to avoid talking to me. Because I so often find myself alone at night (I go out by myself), I appreciate men who are friendly enough to talk to me. Certainly this is more appropriate on a well-lit street with other people in view.

Maybe if I was walking down a dark alley, I might get nervous. There were maybe some areas of Naples, Italy that made me nervous at night, and when strange men stopped and helped me find my way to safety, I really appreciated that. Some areas of SOMA, San Francisco, make me nervous as well, mainly because there are homeless men who are on drugs on the street. Walking alone through Mid-Market, I would appreciate a strange, non-threatening man walking with me.

Most sexual assaults involve a man a woman knows and trusts, not some random guy on the street. This is unfortunate, but it makes no more sense to fear every stranger than it does to fear every man in my life. And I don’t have the energy for it. I make a choice not to let a minority of men impact my feelings and choices. If this gets me raped, so be it. I will have managed to avoid years of unnecessary anxiety, and I’m sure I’ll handle it.