not a girl, dude here. pretty confident i have enough strength to wield one efficiently (have some experience using blunt force weaps)

pepper spray more efficient but it can backfire, and shit is painful hence im not considering to use it

im using it more on deterrence, since if robber/thief sees me with a weapon and might fight back, the perp might changes its mind on attacking since too much trouble (im going on the case where most thieves/robbers goes for unarmed and vulnerable victims instead of those who can fight back)

ive always wanted to get one since action movies before Watch Dog showed them la
as much intimidating as that composure is, im still bare handed

bare hand vs parang, bad idea

the idea is that if parang strikes come, i can at least block it away with the baton than bare hand while running away
ofc run la, im not confident to take on robbers myself

but as per reply above, at least a baton > bare hands in blocking away parang

im not planning on using baton to whack them
if you want to know la, i find people wielding blunt force trauma weapons more scarier than blade

cause it does massive crap against your internals than blade. one whack at right spot, and youre nearly incapacitated as compared to blades (several stabs to take down)

slashing not as effective too, unless you have longer blade/knife where you can cut deeper

knives are bad idea when police suddenly decide to check you btw, youll get worse than holding a baton. friend had parang for jungle stuff, police roadblock found it while hes on his way back from camp. kena stopped

the flash light is a good idea at night, blind the fuker then chabut