Is it normal for petite women to feel so defenseless?

everyones equal with a gun

I have a friend who is 5 ft 110lbs and she'd kick my ass any day.

As always it's not the size of the dog in a fight, but the size of the fight in the dog (:

If you want to increase your strength to feel less defenseless, increase your protein intake and buy several pairs of dumbbells, not those dinky 2-9 pound ones, but the 10 to 20 pound ones. Find some dumbbell routine videos on YouTube, start with the 10 pound ones and gradually increase the weight every few months.

Karate is worthless in an actual fight unless you're a fucking master or some shit. Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing will help you out a lot more.

I don't know if it is normal as I am 5'5", I'm more muscular than the average woman of my height and it's obvious as well... so I've managed to be able to intimidate smaller people (there are a lot of people under 5'5" in this world, surprisingly) but there are a lot of people who are bigger than me who could intimidate me. There's always gonna be a bigger dog out there so you're not the only one who gets nervous and intimidated.

And yet again, everyone fails to see that this is most likely a fetish post.

It sounds to me like you only recently started doing karate and you are expecting immediate results. It kinda doesn't work like that. I don't know much about karate but I do know that you only truly begin to get good when you have your 3rd degree black belt. The rest prior to that is just gaining muscle memory, experience and knowledge.

If you wanna do something that will get you fit, tough and able, try kickboxing.

I'm petite too and I compensate with a big mouth. It actually works!

Macho little men have this saying, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." However, in reality the shrimps end up being ground into the dirt under big guy's heel, most of the time.
So all the self defense training and fem lib bullshit probably won't do a petite woman a great deal of good in a serious situation. A weapon is often quite useful unless if it is your intent to supply your attacker with a weapon they didn't have when this all began. If you are carrying a weapon, you MUST be prepared to use it without hesitation. That means no bullshit; "Put your hands up, while I fumble for my phone to call the popo. Wait, don't move. Really, I'm not kidding, don't....."
I think the best defense is a good offense, sort of. Don't put yourself into a situation where you might have trouble. For instance, always keep your gas tank better than half full so you don't run out of gas in a place you would never go otherwise. Don't park a long way from the mall entrance, even if it means circling for a bit, if you know you won't be coming out until after dark. Always be aware of your surroundings and preplan for a problem.
We live in the 3rd world and take reasonable precautions. We ride the buses with the locals and wander around most ares during day light as long as there are people about. Areas we know are unsafe we stay away from; no bravado here. After dark we take taxis if we are going out, from the marina to wherever (dinner, a show, etc) and back; no side trips.
There's no shame in being cautious and no need to live in fear. Just remain aware and thoughtful of your situation.

well, I think you have no reason to be troubled by thoughts of this nature. we're not living in the jungle anymore. size and strength play a secondary role. other traits make us thrive

for example, I'm a middle size male, but I always was strong as fuck. Actually, I was stronger than I looked. I still am. I always played a role of a bodyguard when hanging out with my friends in high school. nowadays, almost all of them are rich, and I'm, well, still in middle class. Most of them don't even want to hang out with me anymore. It makes me feel inferior every time I think about it (so I try to not to think about it and just move on)

Carry a can of mace around with you . That'll knock those bad dudes out.

What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog. The animal kingdom is full of examples of smaller animals killing or intimidating animals of larger size.
When in doubt, go all crazy spider monkey on them. Crazy people are always scary.

You haven't got to out muscle anyone. You have to outwit them.

I actually kind of like being small it makes me feel kind of free. If you really can't shake feeling helpless, I recommend you take practical self defense classes, train yourself with a fire arm, or a knife. Most engagements will happen at close range so I'd recommend the knife. just make sure you learn to use it it's not like a kitchen knife. If you want to learn karate that's great but it takes years of traing before it really means anything in a real fight. Also unless you to a mcdojo they heavily advocate that you are to only use your skills in self defense and as a last resort. Karate is a great thing but it's not what your looking for. Hope this helps, just rember it's not really a violent world, you have the right to be safe, and it's not all bad being small.

Karate is an effective way to deliver mace.