Things haven't changed. Using your car example....

If I'm by the side of the road with a broke down car and you offer to help, I'm going to thank you and be glad you stopped.

If I say, "thanks for the offer but I've already got assistance coming and I'm okay" but you insist on "helping" well now the situation has changed.

You've just taken yourself from a kind stranger offering to help someone in need to a potential threat. Why so pushy? I didn't mince words up there. That was clear and direct. Why do you feel the need to disregard that clear no? What are you up to, what are you about?

See, now I've got to worry about that. Maybe I have my little ones in the car. I now have to be on guard.

Awesome. 🙄

Consider that the reason why your approaches have all been well received so far is that they were offered as genuine acts of kindness from one citizen to another. They weren't pushy or aggressive. They didn't cause distress or anxiousness in the other party.

Cause you weren't being a performative jackass imposing that need to be validated on someone else just because that person happened to be female.

Likewise, if I ran across you in a parking lot, for example, and your battery was dead, I would offer you a jump. I've got cables in the trunk. I would hope you'd be glad I stopped by and say thank you instead of biting my head off. And if you say, "no thanks, I'm good', I'm going to take you at your word, not get obnoxiously pushy and make you worry about possible ulterior motives just because my ego is out of hand and I'm being an entitled douchebag.

This shit REALLY isn't that hard.

-- I might ask you once, "you sure you're good?"

But by God, if you have to tell me no 3 times, that's some bullshit. There's some kind of meanness going on right there, that's what that is.