If you’re about to be attacked, pretend you know them. This may sound silly, but it worked for me. It saved my life.
When I was 16 years old, I was walking alone through a town centre at 1am, towards a bus stop after a party. I was slightly tipsy, however my cognition was mostly fine.
The air was cold and nippy; I regretted wearing a short skirt. I began feeling confused when I realised a dark figure was walking directly towards me. They were looking directly at me, as if they were stalking their prey. They started picking up their pace. I knew I was in danger.
My slightly tipsy brain made a strange decision. I pretended that I knew them.
“Omg! I haven’t seen you in so long! How are you?”, I yelled to the figure.
“Uh, what?”, he replied, flabbergasted.
“You look so different, tell your mum I said hi!”, I replied.
“Have we met?”, he asked.
“How could you forget? Anyway, I’ve got to go. Catch up soon”, I replied before speeding away.
As I walked away, I turned around briefly to see if he was gone. He was walking in the opposite direction, and I noticed a handle poking out of his back pocket. A knife.
The next day, out of curiosity, I googled the correct way to deal with an attacker, and this is actually a legitimate way. Obviously this won’t work if the attacker has already began hurting you. But yes, this technique confuses and distracts the attacker, whilst also humanising you – so that you’re less likely to be hurt.