How do you find an attacker who will let you put a knitting needle in their throat?
I think most men by far would simply dodge, grab your arm, and that would be the end of your whaling career.
Situational awareness and sudden unexpected viciousness is what women have to work with, it’s not like we are going to outmuscle these creeps. But we can hurt them and make a huge shrieking scene that alerts everyone to their predatory behavior. Unlike the sad twit that hustled off to her car to make a TikTok video, bad granny and her crochet hook will make the evening news, FB, Insta and Tik Tok.
It’s small, but sharp enough to pierce most clothing and long enough to pierce 1-2 inches of flesh and it’s barbed so it’s going to tear if yanked out. It’s also seen as so innocuous that they let old ladies take them on planes.
I always travel with a doily and a sock project on circular needles. That means bad granny is traveling with two nylon garrottes and a half dozen sharpened bamboo stakes and a couple of mini steel harpoons.