Again, you're reading something I haven't written. If a man is only looking at you, you don't have grounds for assault. If a man is actually assaulting you, you have every right to defend yourself. Don't conflate different cases.
I'm going to assume you've never been the much weaker person in a fight but as said weaker person in a fight you have to act fast and early. If a man so much as begins grabs me if I want to get away by force I need to cause a lot of harm, because If I don't he will very easily overpower me quickly. It's easy for that person to then make up some BS about how I overreacted and he was just talking to me. Was just putting his arm on my shoulder blah blah blah. So fighting doesn't make any sense when you realize when an average woman would have to begin using force in order for it to be effective. If I do it after I'm wasting my energy, and essentially have to let myself be assaulted until a good opportunity comes up, sounds fun ! Not to mention if there is multiple attackers you're just screwed.