Are women safer if they encounter a bear or a man in the woods?

While I understand the reasoning for women choosing bear (and the thought experiment of it), I would not choose bear. There are bears in the woods in my area, I would not want to meet one of them. I do walk in the woods (a wood that doesn't have bears in) and I've often come across men there but only once felt scared, but most of the men I see in the woods are my neighbours who I vaguely recognise on sight. Its not the same as meeting a complete stranger and having no idea what they might do.
But a bear badly mauled a local man's dog last summer. The man was lucky to escape unharmed.

I haven't met a bear. I believe they are pescatarian. They might hurt you for food, in self-defence or to protect their young. They might also leave you alone as you would them.

The human male might hurt you, scare you, rape you etc simply because they can. I have met many human males. Human males have street harassed from the age of 11 until my walk home from work today at 40. They have stalked, groped, catcalled, and attempted assault. Human males murder women every day.

I would take the bear.

Someone said the bear. Because if you get attacked by the bear and survive, you won't have to meet him at family events for the rest of your life.

@SwordToFlamethrower I'm so sorry that you went through this.
I came here to just flippantly say #notallbears but your post pulled me up somewhat. I hope you're now healing from this experience ❤

It depends if the man is bare!

Interesting question. As a data scientist I'm forced to say Man - Purely because, a probably higher than I'd like to admit proportion of men will be rapsits/predators/killers, but you could bump into my brother out for a walk or one of our sons doing a scout hike etc etc, whearas pretty much every bear, unless it's just eaten, is going to try and kill and eat you. So statistically, I'd take my chances with a man (and I know where the weak spots are, could have a go at a kick in the bollocks that might buy me enough time to get away etc).

However, PP is exactly right. I hear many parents, mothers and fathers, and I have said to my own children, if you get lost find a woman and ask her for help. If someone is hassling you on the train, go and sit with a woman. No one says go and find a man.

Or if Bears hated us the way so many men seem to

Pondering further...as an arachnaphobe.

Given a choice between being in a bathroom with a spider or Eddie Izzard, I'd have to choose the spider.

Bear of course. It's a no-brainer. The fact men can't (won't?) comprehend this and see it as a cause for self-reflection is - um - telling.

I’ve always had an irrational fear of large mammals, which have specifically included bears, so I would choose a man. I must admit to being taken aback by how many women chose bear but I can see their perspective too.

Pandas attacked a zookeeper last week https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13349103/Shocking-moment-PANDAS-attack-zookeeper-China.html She was "gnawed."

Even so, I'd rather take my chances with the bear.

#NotAllBears

Some kinds of bears hunt people.

This debate is wild on tiktok. So many men getting really upset that women keep choosing the bear.
"But what if you were going to be locked in a house with a bear?"
"What if we replaced all men with bears?"
"What if there were two islands, one with bears and one with men?"

They just can't accept the answer that generally women feel safer around bears than men.

Sure, a bear might kill you. But it will kill you probably to protect itself. We know there are men out there who would do much, much worse and do it for fun.

The thing is, even those of us who live around bears meet a lot fewer of them than we do men.

So the chances of a negative encounter with a bear are far far less.

If we met hundreds of bears along in the woods every year, we might all have bad incidents to report.

Apparently 6 people a year die from bears in the US.

It’s a no brainer to answer bear.

I am a little skeptical that most women saying they would rather meet a strange bear have actually ever really met a wild one before

You have a point. However, like most posters here, I'm basing my reply on the many male crackpots I have met over decades.

I'm not as brave as a pp to list the various incidents, but having my tits grabbed by a swivel eyed loon while waiting for the 9 p.m. bus on my way home from work, was one of the lesser scary moments.

I'm so very sorry.

What kind of bear?

In Australia it could be a koala......or a drop bear.

I'm a woman I don't tend to go wandering in the woods alone, it's something we learn very early on unfortunately.

An adorable little black cub just came trotting through our campus 5 minutes ago, but always the next question is where Mama is, because they can be very dangerous/protective.

At the risk of being very boring and logical, doesn't it basically depend on why the man is in the woods?

@SwordToFlamethrower
Sending you an unMumsnetty hug.

As to the conundrum, it is easy - a bear.

True. But I suspect a bear is more likely to kill you.

Hmm. We have bears that come around our property regularly, and although they are black bears, which aren't especially dangerous under normal circumstances, I would rather meet a man than a bear. It is possible to have a tense run-in with a female when she has cubs, and frankly they are very large and intimidating and unpredictable. The school next door keeps the kids in if there is a bear around.

Now the grizzly bears, out west, are dangerous to humans and I wouldn't go into bear country there without a gun. Even more so with polar bears, they are extremely dangerous and won't usually think twice about eating a person. There's no question of outrunning a polar bear or a grizzly.

I am a little skeptical that most women saying they would rather meet a strange bear have actually ever really met a wild one before.