I (21f) am 5'5" and skinny. I recently attended a self-defense class, and there I was tought how to use a pocket knife. And as I have some male friends 6'5"+ tall, I thought that that height actually makes their belly particularly vulnerable in case of a fight (compared to a short guy/girl):
- a short person's shoulder height is around the same level as the the tall person's belly making it easier to stab/hit;
- a tall guy's belly is proportionally a larger target.
And in general, if a 6'5"+ guy stands in front of me with his stomach released (even if he has just a bit of a belly) it feels like having an exposed, large and squishy punching/stabbing bag right in front of me, into which, if needed, I can easily harshly and deeply plunge anything straight away.
I also practice historical fencing (rapier) and most of the times I stab tall opponents into the belly - my favorite thrusts are ducking counterattacks when I duck while they attack, go low and impale a tall guy's unprotected belly right onto my rapier.
I've been in street fights, bar brawls, boxing rings, mma cages, ice hockey brawls (my favourite), even tried out fencing and HEMA out and you don't come across as someone with experience and you just admitted as much.
Do you think someone is going to swagger up to you and announce they're attacking you? Are you going to pull your knife on every man that approaches? Oh you'll only do it for the scary looking guys? Jeffrey Dahmer didn't look real scary did he now.
There's a solid chance you won't even manage to draw your knife if genuinely attacked.
A few things to consider.
And on the legality side if carrying knives and guns is legal... WTF are you going to do when you pull your little pocket knife out and someone ventilates you with .45?
I once had to get a steak knife off a toddler to stop them taking their own eye out and didn't come away unscathed, so sure, you're probably mildly more dangerous than a toddler.
The toddler was fine btw.
Knives are dangerous, potentially illegal to carry and adding a knife to a situation is very likely to escalate it, and if you've got time to draw a knife you've got time to run and/or get help.
You sound insecure and I hope you can sort that out.
In addition, check out ShivWorks Instagram page. They use videos of real fights to show just how fast shit starts, ends, and how badly things go. Fights and assaults usually start with someone sucker-punching someone, not with people squaring up.
Tbf she'd be safe from Ol' Jeff, you or I might have to worry more about him than she would. Bundy OTOH...
Also oddly it's not usually strangers killing women, men are actually more likely to be killed by a stranger than women, women (out of those murdered of course as murder at all is fairly uncommon) are usually killed by people they know.