Man vs Bear? or Woman?

May 03, 2024

So this hypothetical question has been making the rounds lately on social media. Basically if I get the gist of it right, the question is posed to women, and is intended to highlight the state of male/female relations in today's world. In essence, women are asked whether they would prefer to encounter a strange man or a wild bear, if they found themselves lost and otherwise alone in the woods.

Apparently the majority of women have been answering - Bear! Whether being truthful or trying to prove a point, most ladies online are arguing that they would feel safer meeting a wild bear in the woods than an unknown man. Many of the explanations I have read center around the same point - that wild bears generally want to avoid people and leave them alone, whereas a strange man encountering a vulnerable woman could be more threatening and dangerous to her.

Predictably, quite a few men have been ruffled by this general response, and have gone online to chastise, berate, advise and otherwise try to mansplain to women why their answer is wrong. According to one meme I saw, this knee-jerk response by men to try to tell women how to feel, illustrates the exact reason why most women would prefer to encounter a bear. It proves how men can actually invalidate what a woman says and feels, being fully self-righteous in the process.

Many women can easily extrapolate the attitude of the men who refuse to accept "bear" as our answer, to the type of man who wouldn't take "no" for an answer if encountered in the woods. The type of man who would put his desires before what a woman would want in that situation and believe he was rightfully entitled to whatever he felt the woman owed him because - he's a man. This is why women would rather take chances with a wild animal.

As for me personally...look...truthfully I know nothing about bears. I live in a suburban area in the Caribbean and have never had much to do with animals, wild or tame. To me, bears are terrifying, dangerous wild beasts that I'm glad don't live in my country and I would never want to encounter. If I'm being 100% honest - in the unlikely event that I'm lost in the woods, given that I never partake in any woods-related activities - I actually feel I would rather encounter a man. My logic being that chances are he would be someone like a hunter or hiker who would have the skill set to help me to safety. My hope of course would be that he would be more willing to help than harm or take advantage of me - which is a huge chance to take but I fancy the odds over me surviving alone with a random bear. This is my reality based, gut-based feeling.

Sadly I know it's a huge chance to take either way - and that's the point. The answer should be easy. A woman should be able to trust a male stranger in a situation like that. But "should" and reality have never been friends and are very much not so in today's world. I actually think a better or at least equally thought-provoking question would be - would you rather encounter a strange man or woman if lost in the woods? Let the discussions continue.