Surely I am not the only woman who would chose the man, not the bear?

[Idpicktheman]

You know that, would you rather meet a man or a bear in the woods thing?

I would choose the man.

I've hiked in the Rockies where there are bears. If you come across a bear, you have surprised and startled it. All the stories I heard of people being attacked in the Rockies were of people who have surprised bears with their appearance. I blew a whistle every couple of minutes when I hiked to make sure a bear was not surprised by my appearance. Therefore I think if I met a bear in the woods, there is a good likelihood it would attack me.

I also walk in the woods a lot in the UK as I live in a semi-rural area. I regularly come across men and they either ignore me or say hello as they pass and carry on walking their dog/ cycling/ or mountain biking.

So whilst there is a chance a man would attack me, I think the probability is that they would not.

But whilst there is a chance the bear would amble off and leave me alone, the probability is that it would attack me.

So I would chose the man.

( I realise the point of this though experiment is to show that women think this through, because both can be dangerous to them, whereas men instantly say' well, I'd chose the woman obviously' because women are not a danger to them : but I have seen a lot of women instantly saying ' the bear!' but, being literalistic about the actual answer, in all honestly, the bear is more likely to attack you than the man.)

Yeah definitely the man for me as well. In 39 years, my experiences of men have been overwhelmingly positive, with a very tiny handful of dodgy ones who I wouldn’t want to bump into.

If you meet a bad man you will probably survive, if you meet a bad bear you probably won’t. I need to be alive so man it is.

Your not the only one I'm guessing but its the reaction of the men that I find most interesting they are aggressively defending their right to be chosen instead of the bear proving the point of why a lot of women are choosing the bear

No, I'd choose the bear.
I walk around 10 miles a day with ddog and once a week we have to divert routes away from men acting weirdly. Yesterday a man, who I have seen several times doing the same thing before, was standing dressed in all black with a balaclava on in the middle of the wood. He stands still like a scarecrow for hours. The dog hates him and barks like crazy and after I initially walked past him I have decided it isn't worth it. We also always see men crouching in bushes. I am very glad for my dog who isn't small and barks at them to show me they are there. I have no idea what would have happened to me by now is ddog hadn't acted in this way. I'd take my chances with the bear if I didn't have ddog.

Of course if it’s man, bear or woman, I don’t even have to think about it.

Well yeah. It's a stupid thought experiment that proves nothing. A man might hurt you but chances are he won't. A bear almost definitely will maul you to death. I'd rather take my chances on a man.

Tbh this isn't about if the bear would attack you or not, it's that the bear killing you would be preferable to what a man would do to you if he attacked you. 'Most' women would rather be attacked and killed by a bear than being attacked and worse by a man.

This.

Most women would rather survive.

I’d prefer to meet a black bear than certain men. But I’d choose a man over a Grizzly bear and there’s no way I’d want to meet a polar bear.

What if it was a panda though?

Really? That's an odd thing to claim. And also I don't think that is the point of the question actually. And I guess if it is it's an even stupider question.

This is very unfair on bears. You won't meet a polar bear in the forest, and most other bears will stay away from you most of the time.

If a man is going to attack you, rape you, torture you in the woods, chances are you will be killed as well.. which is the whole point if people actually take notice of the actual question.

I would choose the man as well. But it may depend on the bear. If a sloth bear, then the bear. Also, I am past 50. My answer may have been different if I were young and pretty.

This.
Surely the only people who don't understand the point of this are men.

Yes! Same here!

I’d probably have chosen the man tbh, however, having seen some of the ridiculously aggressive responses from men to women who choose the bear, I’m not so sure.

Some of them are outright proving the point of the women who chose the bear.

I'm not sure this is true. Being eaten alive is pretty much the most nightmarish and terrifying way I can think of to die, its up there with being burnt alive whilst conscious. I'd rather be raped and survive.

Ok, but for the purpose of this thought experiment aren't we assuming the bear is a dangerous one? Or are we expected to assess the likelihood of the bear being a type that is dangerous to humans and assess that against the likelihood of this particular man being a murderer and decide based on that? Because it's getting more meaningless by the moment.

I know most men are decent.

However, when I was 19, a man tried to pull me into a dark alley. Although I got away, it was recorded by the police as "attempted sexual assualt"

I always need to have an escape route. I don't like being in a lift with an unknown man, or taking a taxi alone. Its just this underlying calculation of... is this man a threat.

Most aren't, some are.

Now... Man or Bear. I find the thought of the bear more predictable. Thats the issue. It could definitely hurt me. But man... hurt me? Ignore me? Help me? Rape?

Sometimes knowing is a better choice.v

I'm not a man.

I agree it’s a daft question. People’s minds go straight to ‘dangerous man in the woods’ when most men are harmless and many would be a positive help to our fictional lost woman.
Bears are scary.

Yes, it’s a daft thought experiment that makes women’s valid concerns about male violence seem silly and hyperbolic.

The question isn’t “would you rather be killed by a bear or a man”, I read it more as which will give you the best outcome. I think an angry bear is more murderous than an angry man, though both could obviously kill you.

I’d choose the man to. I’ve been sexually assaulted several times (who hasn’t?). But always by men I know, never by a stranger in the woods.

there’s a small chance I could outrun a man and an even smaller chance that I might be able to fight him off. He might “just” rape me and leave me alive. While tramatising, I am at least alive. I can’t outrun a bear, I won’t even have time to try and fight it and the chances of survival is very slim.

yes bear fights are very very rare, probably because there are a lot more men than bears!

I don’t know if the statistics are still the same but it used to be the case that it was young men that were more likely to be assaulted after dark than women.

we’re going to get utter bashed for this here!