Personally, I would tend to think that both genders are safer in a group. Specifically for women, it would be very unlikely that you would find a group containing all rapists and no-gooders. If there was one person in the group who tried anything, it's very likely that the rest in the group would intervene and the offender would be cast out.
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“Hiking is just walking where it’s okay to pee. Sometimes old people hike by mistake.” — Demitri Martin