The dude at the store was pretty frank and told me that If he had a daughter my age he'd never send her there, and preemptively told me to never leave the house past 3. It's really fucking bleak. I got 10 different reservations that I can't cancel. What now? Any general tips for girls for not getting raped in wonderful safe civilized european streets? It's my 5th time going to Germany and it's the first I was warned like this.
Men are hysterical reactionaries. Violent crime is trending down in Germany, as it is in most of Europe. You've been many times before, what was your experience? Did you feel safe? Your experience and your gut are orders of magnitude more useful than the opinions of some guy who is probably thinking about what he would do to a woman given the opportunity.
The most dangerous choice you can make is to trust a man. Going to Germany is a lot safer than trusting a man. If a man was genuinely concerned for your safety, he would understand that "don't go outside after 3pm" is bad advice because it is based on the belief that strangers are the primary source of danger for women[1]. Statistically, a woman is safer in the streets of Germany at 3pm than she is at home with her partner[2].
Listen to your gut, it is smarter than any man. If your gut says don't go, don't go, if your gut says go, go.
[1] If a man is preaching about the dangers of being outside in Germany, ask him about the laws and statistics about domestic violence and intimate partner violence. Prior to 1997, marital rape was legal in Germany.
Prior to 2016, rape was only illegal if the victim physically fought back. Most rapes in Germany are committed by current or previous partners (~85% according to police estimates). In 2016, groping was made a crime, so statistics of sexual violence in public post-2016 reflect that new crime designation (not necessarily an increase in the occurrence of it). A man who has meaningful insight to provide on safety would know all this and their advice would be informed by it.
[2] We would probably need to compare the rates of street violence to the rates of intimate partner violence
and then adjust for the amount of time spent outside vs. inside with partner, but given the significant disparity in incidence rates, even after adjusting for the amount of time, it seems very unlikely for outside alone to be more dangerous than inside with partner.