My voice is gone, probably because of screaming "No!" so much of yesterday.

I took a Suit Training course (like Model muggers, where you get to beat the shit out of an aggressor in a padded suit).

It's different from krav, because it considers verbal self defense, and is less aggressively aggressive.

I'm curious about some stuff, though. Have women here experienced making eye contact as a better preventative measure than not? Does not looking the weird guy in the eye encourage him to come in closer?

For me, making eye contact is like flashing a sign. And it's not like I default to come hither, or anything. Not looking works better.

But their examples of not looking had much more vulnerable body language than I think mine is. I'm probably somewhere around "almost irritated" no matter my mood.

I look guys directly in the eye and nod hello and quickly look away. I feel as if I am saying "I acknowledge you are there. I am not ignoring you. We have had our interaction and now it's done." In all my years in NYC, I found it worked 9 out of 10 times.

ita, I suspect there is not making eye contact and then there is not making eye contact. I do not make eye contact because other people are as insignificant gnats to me; but if my eye-contact avoidance were, in fact, fearful, then eye-contact making would be a step up.

Generally speaking, when "get outta my way" is your default demeanor, then eye-contact is not particularly at issue.

I feel like the eye-contact thing for the average woman is kind of like a bluff. You (ita) could actually beat the shit out of the guy, but I probably couldn't, which makes it more important for me to look as though I could. Not that I do it much, but that's because most creepy people on the street want to talk to you, not hurt you. And I REALLY don't want to talk to them.

I look guys directly in the eye and nod hello and quickly look away.

I do the nod, sometimes smile, but really dislike the eye thing. They painted it like not looking was equivalent to flashing your panties.

I'm all about the "I know you're there. You cannot surprise me. But you also cannot engage me."

I look through/past people. I don't know what it looks like to the observer, though. I have some issues with making eye-contact generally (like talking to my dang friends!) so I'm probably not on the normal stretch on any such continuum.

I avoid eye contact with strangers because I learned, growing up back east, that it could be taken as a challenge/invitation. That many people around you, personal privacy was important. There's a difference between looking past someone while giving off "I have a purpose" vibes and walking around with your head down looking like a victim.

I feel like making eye contact is more of an invitation than not making eye contact, so mostly I don't. I haven't been attacked yet, though that's bound to me more a matter of luck than anything else.

They painted it like not looking was equivalent to flashing your panties.

I never make eye contact with anyone on the street. I don't want to communicate with them, I don't want them to communicate with me, end of story.

Scathing anti-war testimony: [link]