My DH has told me never to turn my back on my rooster and cockerel. (He genuinely doesn’t trust any animal.) But the way I look at it is, I want to be able to go about my business when out in MY yard doing whatever, whenever. The last thing I want to worry about is “if a male bird is looking at me funny.” I do know from experience the subtleties a cockerel exhibits when he’s thinking “can I take her on?” and I definitely put an end to those notions quickly.
I will continue to do what I need and want whether it be walking fast or slow, stumbling (which I do quite often), bending to get the water hose or pick up feathers, sitting down, etc. IF I am attacked, so be it. It is the LAST time that particular bird will ever attack. No ifs, ands, or buts!
I want a rooster that fits into MY flock, not me into his!
There is still a small amount of times he has pecked at me in the coop (just to clarify, I can walk into the coop) but now it is met with a firm cuddle. I pick him up and hold him until he relaxes then place him on the roost. I'm beginning to think that the change in weather, the hens starting to lay, me not going out quite as early to let them out to give the girls a chance to lay in boxes and prevent winter easter egg hunts, and maybe a few other things contributed to the change in behavior. Now that we are settling into the new routine and my realizing (thanks to advise from you all) I needed to handle him more, not just give him his space, hopefully he will continue to get better (maybe he was jealous that I was giving more attention to the girls than him?
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I completely understand where they are coming from, however, it is important to ME to be able to interact with my males the way I do my females. These are just my feelings. Even though I don’t have interaction with some of my flightier girls, I DO want to be able to pick up and love on my boys. It’s just me! 
