The bear is honest, either it eats you or it fucks off. The bear would never pretend to be friendly to gain your trust, or pretend to fuck off and instead stalk you for days. I can more accurately surmise a bears intentions than i can for any random man because all the bear could possibly want out of me is a meager amount of food.
Men getting angry about this are being upset by the possibility that they could potentially be considered threatening, by a completely uninformed third party nonetheless. And their chosen recourse is to demonstrate threatening behavior.
Some men feel the need to prove their masculinity to this woman who’s obviously rage baiting, the rest of us are thanking the bear for taking one for the team.
Maybe it's because i'm a man, but this trend saddens me. I don't often see what the other gender thinks of us, but the fact that a big part of us are a bother that all off us should be seen as more dangerous than a bear. Damn...
The people complaining that she is being derogatory to men are the same people who would say "what do you expect going into the woods alone with a strange man? What did you think would happen?"
Imagine the stupid Pence Rule (never be alone with a woman who isn't your wife). And framing it as you'd rather be alone with a velociraptor than a strange woman because a velociraptor is less likely to falsely accuse you of something.
I get that the point of the joke is that women think men are dangerous, but any nuance or discussion is completely out the window due to how stupid and inflammatory the framing is
I mean, do I know if the bear is hungry? What type of bear? I'd take a well fed black bear over a random person, they ain't gonna fuck with you. Pretty much any other scenario and I ain't messing with the bear.
Thank you to the men in the comments who react like humans with empathy!
But god damn there are a lot of people on this thread that are taking this VERY personally.
Nobody is denying that men in our society deserve to be respected, nobody is saying IF YOU'RE A MAN FUCK YOU ID RATHER BE MAULED, and nobody is saying that women are always right no matter what.
Of course the man could be weaker/not a threat. Of course he should be assumed safe. Of course everyone should respect all genders. And, OF COURSE, some women lie about rape! Yes! You do in fact have valid concerns!
HOWEVER,
It is really shitty some people commenting decide to take a clear example with obvious intentions and then make it about themselves, and then abuse women in the comments... you are proving the point, and in fact, you are a huge red flag already.
This question already sets the scene, you are alone in the woods: there is a strange man OR you are alone in the woods: there is a strange bear. The man's intentions (AND the bear's intentions) is not clear, we only know that he is there, and he is strange. No need to make up reasons why the guy is OK, minding his business, etc. Because in the situation given, the point of the question was to ask people how they would feel lost in the woods with a man or a bear, with such a small amount of information!
The question is trying to shed light on WHY the women asked said they prefer the bear. Do they think every man -at all- is a threat? Do they think that all men will overpower and harm them"because all men want to use their strength to rape/hurt women" because they are "biologically meant to*?* and, then, where do the fears come from and what can we do to change that? Why assume the worst when everything could be just fine?
I wish people would react more like "this is very depressing, and I understand why women are sometimes afraid of men in situations out of their control" or "I am doing my part to be a safe man ". But ask yourself, "do I know someone that would clearly make a woman feel unsafe to be around?" You might know more than one person like this, and they are why we talk about this in the first place.
The best way I've ever heard to describe this fear women live with is this: "when I approach a bees nest, it is highly unlikely they will attack me, they are usually docile!. That does not mean I won't try to avoid being stung. "
imo for pedants like myself, it needs to be made clear if the bear is LIKELY to harm you
If its a black bear, red panda, or the like that is not even fair, EVERYONE would rather be with a bear that doesnt want to be near you rather than some potentially dangerous rando
I am a pretty tall, broadly built man, so obv I'm a little biased because I'm reasonably confident that I could kill another man if it came to it. However, the concept of this question bothers me, because it doesn't indicate what kind of bear. Trust me, if you ever come face to face with a fully grown grizzly, you'd prefer the man. Monsters are real, and they can destroy you on accident, while men have weak necks and unprotected kidneys.
If I was dead either way though, obv I'd rather it be an emotionless grizzly who'd tear me apart pretty quickly.
If I mer another man in the woods I would say hi and walk by. Bears are fucking dangerous. I really dont understand why all of you are so afraid of other people.
disclaimer - i haven't read the article/opinion. anyway, if someone said this to me, i think i would understand what is really being communicated, which is something like "i don't trust men i don't know, men i don't know feel very unsafe to me." i don't think i would get hung up taking the statement literally. my thinking would be something like, "why do men seem so unsafe to you?" (knowing the answer is likely based in experience or observation of some kind), rather than "what kind of bear?"
Pretty much all points from all parties in this thread just reinforce my ever growing refusal to leave the house or interact with anybody unless absolutely necessary.
Eventually, I'll probably be the strange man in the woods because that's as far away from people as I can get. Should we meet at that time, then by all means, I encourage you, regardless of gender, to move along and go get you some bear love.
is it a black bear or a grizzly bear? very important question. A similar logic applies to men except the criterion is probably much harder to gauge by eye.
It's so bizarre to me that people are taking this so personally. Usually I don't associate myself personally with the concept of "random asshole" and tend to have a pretty poor opinion of said random asshole.
People actually taking a probability and risk assessment statement as if it's talking about them.
I'm a guy and I'd probably pick a bear over a random person. At least with a bear I know it's not safe. A person? Could be useful, could be aggressive and follow me, etc. I know enough to know that I'd have no idea if the person was telling the truth about anything survival related.
Solidarity amongst all human beings, and whatever gender they may be.
That said, people who are a smaller stature deserve the ability to defend themselves from other larger individuals. I wonder how the handmaids tale would have gone if all the women had AK-47s?
I don't agree that this kind of article is useful overall, but I propose rewriting the question a little bit to understand the response better:
"Humans, would you rather be stuck in the woods with a strange human that was most likely physically bigger and stronger than you or with a strange bear that was most likely physically stronger than you?"
The original question plays with subconscious bias and fears a little too much relating to men, and doesn't address the true nature of humans in general.
If the question was instead:
"Humans, would you rather be stuck in the woods with a strange human or a strange bear"
My answer would still be a bear. I believe I could take care of myself for a few days and don't want some other person there that I have to discussions with, compromise with, help survive or be scared of. Humans are too fucking random.
Funny, because if I was trapped alone in a forest and had to chose between spending time with someone who posts shit like this and a bear in both cases Id probably run away screaming.
Ok. Good for her. Anyway..I'd rather choose the bear too because a bear isn't going to accuse me of raping it when I'm not giving it my attention or the time of day
Just returning the same energy ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Edit: Oh? so if a guy like me who has had some bad things happen due to an abusive ex says essentially the same thing, it's not ok, but because she's a woman, its okay? Wow, I'm SO shocked!