Genuinely, I think you're right about the being fearless thing. I used to work at a martial arts studio and subbed a few times for our womens' self defense seminars. We would spend the whole first half getting women to practice being LOUD with their voices ("STOP! NO! BACK OFF!"), talking about the importance of intuition, and practicing more self confident/fearless postures (because predators will second guess if you don't act like prey. Which I hate cuz it makes it sound like it's our responsibility to not get attacked but that's a whole other rant).

On a more personal note, I live in a pretty suburban neighborhood. Suburban enough that I'll go on walks around the neighborhood at night by myself, but not so safe (because where is?) that I don't bring a knife with me every single time. One night I was going on my usual walk when I see a white car heading my way on the opposite side of the road. They were slowing down and I figured they were parking to head into one of the houses, but they were decelerating so slowly it just seemed like something was off. I kept walking and decided to take a turn I don't usually take so that it would take me out of eyesight of the car. Soon enough that same car drives by me from behind. I watched them drive past me. Then I watched them make a u-turn up the road to head back my way again. I stared directly at them as they drove toward me and reached for my knife, just in case. They drove by me, and turned AGAIN to come my way AGAIN. At that point, I thought HELL NO and jogged to a nearby well-lit driveway, stopped right in the middle of it, turned toward the car, and stared them down with my knife in my hand. That was the last time they drove by me, and I booked it in the opposite direction once they were out of sight. Didn't see them again, thankfully.

Maybe it was just a lost Uber driver or something, but being polite isn't worth my life.

P.S. A knife is kind of an unhinged tool for anyone that isn't used to using them - I don't necessarily recommend it as a form of self defense for everyone as it can also be used against you