<p>The least safe place for a female in her late teens is a college campus. The number of rapes, sexual assaults, and general assaults is absolutely astonishing. Second least safe place is a public high school. </p>
<p>My mother always told me that the best way to be safe is simply not to visit those places which are known not to be. People who obey the law (and don't drink before age 21) are much, much less likely to be assaulted.</p>
<p>If you choose places where the people around you are less likely to be flaunting their disregard for the law, you will be safer as well. Works a heck of a lot better than whistles or "self-defense".</p>