burnthesheep

I'm not defending anyone in this. Just giving insight into the origins. I'm in my mid to later 30's now. My parents sat me down around the time boys start courting girls in school and gave me the "be careful talk". Basically telling me that if the daddy didn't care for me dating someone they could end me by making false claims and I'd be done for. This was in the late 90's early 2000's.

So, the sentiment of "caution" when a guy is around a girl is likely as old as time. Whether it makes any dang sense or not.

I've never not helped a person, but I usually knew the area well and there were passerby every few seconds anyway. Feel it out like "is this under a poorly lit sketchy bridge", or is this in broad daylight in a busy area? If someone is under the bridge, offer help but tell them it has to be in broad daylight on the corner where people or cars are passing.

Oddly enough, the only time it's been a male/female help situation with just two of us was me being the one needing help. I haven't carried a multitool since losing my favorite and having an expensive nice one totally fall apart on me. My bad. I had a chainring bolt backout on the cross bike and I caught it before it caused problems, but I couldn't get it in nor out without a tool. I'd preferred remove it and ride the few miles home to fix it. A seasoned gravel/mountainbiker lady stopped, tossed me their multitool and I was on my way in a minute.

Also in the day of GPS's you have proof of your whereabouts, and most folks have a HRM going to it also. So if you're chasing someone around doing illegal stuff it would show it. So your only real fear is "getting jumped" in a setup situation to rob people. But for that, know where you are. You can also always start recording on the your phone and leave it in your pocket if you're paranoid.