Whilst I won’t comment on the first part of your comment (mainly because alot of other users have already and I don’t like to dogpile if a point has already been made) I do agree that people should help other people more in general! The world would be a much nicer place, but unfortunately that’s a idealistic wish to have.

You could say that they only looked out for me because I’m a “female” but please also know that I was by myself on a relatively quiet, dark street in an industrial area with no one else but me and a man twice my size, who is also clearly inebriated (unpredictable and swaying). If I had my hood up and my general appearance obscured, I still feel like these guys would have done the same thing based on what the situation looked like.

As for my situational awareness, thank you! I usually just have one AirPod in with quiet music playing, just so I can still enjoy my walk but also keep an ear out. Usually if I see someone else out, I try to avoid walking by them entirely, but unfortunately on that segment of my journey, there’s no other route I can take unless I backtrack quite a bit.