Female Self Defense: Situational Awareness

My college freshman year roommate was from DC and would tell me stories of going clubbing alone from the age of 15 (she was a wild child). I asked her if she ever had any trouble walking those streets alone and she said nope, she just walked like she knew where she was going and with attitude. She said there was one time that some guy started following her, getting a little closer after each block. Finally after a few blocks of walking and not ditching him, she turned around and yelled right at him "What the *$@# do you want?" and he was so startled that he ran off. I had a hard time believing that at some point, someone wouldn't try to get through that little bit of defense she carried in her attitude, but she was a "Don't *$@# with me kind of person", not the friendliest of people, so I could almost see how she could carry it off. Awareness of your surroundings, and your attitude, is definitely the most important part of keeping yourself safe. Unless something happened to me, I don't see myself carrying a weapon though. I bought pepper spray for the first time ever a year and a half ago, only because I was going to start walking my new dog around our neighborhood while pushing my 2 year old in the stroller too and wanted to take extra measures to keep her safe as our mobility was compromised by the stroller (unstrapping and removing children from strollers is not a quick action). Walking a German shepard didn't hurt either!