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.)

Definitely the man. Even if the chances of them.attacking were equal I think I'd have a better chance at fighting off a man than a bear.

Still though, if you were walking through a forest, would you rather encounter a human chlamydia-ridden pervert, or a marsupial chlamydia-ridden pervert? 🤔

Well I recon I've got more chance of winning a fight against a man than a bear, so I'm with you!

Would be good to meet a kindred spirit

Nah black, panda and koala bears are pretty chill.

For all those saying they’d rather meet a man than a bear ….

Luckily for you we don’t have bears in this country and the worst animal you will come across is a badger or fox, which are relatively safe.

So since you don’t have the worry of a bear, I assume that means you regularly go out in the middle of the night alone to secluded areas?
And encourage your daughters to do the same?

If you don’t regularly go out to secluded areas in the middle of the night, then why don’t you?

So since you don’t have the worry of a bear, I assume that means you regularly go out in the middle of the night alone to secluded areas?
And encourage your daughters to do the same

If you don’t regularly go out to secluded areas in the middle of the night, then why don’t you?

Just as a matter of interest, what is it you want to be doing in the middle of the night alone in a secluded area?

I mean unless you...are a bear?

This has got me thinking... if a polar bear escaped the zoo... what would it do? Will it head for the places with lots of people...or to the open fields? Maybe the fishing lake..

If you don’t regularly go out to secluded areas in the middle of the night, then why don’t you?

If you don't hike alone in Yellowstone, why don't you?

Being the wee fruitloop I am I've mulled over this since I first saw the meme.

I've got a wonderful male partner, I'm raising fantastic sons and I've an approximate metric fuck ton on male pals. So, I should probably say man. Because I've been lucky to have wonderful men in my life so I appreciate they're not all going to want to whack a rock into my skull.
If the man was unarmed, no weapon at all I'd probably choose man because I'm someone who did kick boxing for years and I am less likely to die from a male attacker than bear. But, and there is a but.

Butttttt on the off chance he's armed or much physically stronger than I am, I'd choose the bear.

Firstly, I'd rather be killed by a bear than a man. I'm that stubborn. And the way men kill women, asphyxiation, bludgeoning, beating, I'd rather lose blood to a good bite.

I've been sexually assaulted by enough men, from 3 years old to my mid 20s, I'd die happier knowing that a bear isn't likely to get sexual gratification from doing it, unless I'm really unlucky and get mauled by the levi bellfield of bears. Plus I'm a hefty fucker, I'd feed a bear a while. I don't really like waste.

When I consider some of the most harrowing murders committed to women and often some women have been tortured for years and months, (Colleen Stan, Kellie Anne Bateman are the most horrific cases) or the way Ted bundy would return to his victims to abuse their corpses, I'd hope if killed by a bear that it would be so gruesome I'd be safe from assault in death.
Not long ago a beautiful young lass, her name was Amber, was murdered by her brother and her poor wee body then sexually assaulted by some scumbag who found her already dead.
A bear attack, I'm hopeful would be less prolonged with no element of sexual assault.

I dislike the overwhelming majority of men. Bears, no matter how dangerous, are cute.

My kids would prefer knowing I went out fighting a bear than I was taken out by some opportunistic predatory fucker.

And my partner, he'd grieve no matter how I went, but he'd always have that element of "poor fella, his Mrs was murdered on a hike", as opposed to being, "ah, that's Lauren who punched bears before she she succumbed to injuries chap, hope he's alright".

Lastly, I've ALWAYS wanted to know if you dance funny to bears fuck off. If nothing else, in my last moments, at least I die with one less unanswered question.

I'm so sorry I've not read the thread properly but is yellowstone worth watching? Sorry to jump in but I don't know anyone who watches shows, my pals are all eastenders/corrie watchers so I have no TV advice!

I have no idea!😂What?

The show? Is it about bears?

I have a feeling, just a wee one, that I've potentially missed your point 😂🙈
Forgive me! Lack of sleep and common sense x

This whole thing reminds me of an old Seinfeld joke where he saw a poll listing people’s worst fears. Number one is public speaking, number two death. So he quipped that people would rather be in the casket than making the eulogy …

So … would you rather get in the bear enclosure at the zoo or stand outside next to a strange man?

i completely understand the purpose of the question but am 100% with you OP. I surprised an actual bear while hiking in Tennessee …it swiftly shoved its baby bear up a nearby tree then turned round and charged at me. I almost shat myself and ran about 2 miles as fast as I possibly could and fortunately it didn’t come after me. there is no doubt in my mind that had the bear decided to chase me I’d have been shredded. I’ve been in quite a few uncomfortable male related situations over the years but none have instilled that primal fear as much as being 5 m away from a raging mumma bear who thought I was after her baby.

Surely the point is that’s it’s even a question?
Surely we should all say ‘man’ but the fact that it had led to lots of discussion is the point.

Wasn't there another meme a few years ago, asking what women would do if there were no men for 24 hours, and the number 1 answer was: go for a walk or run in the dark.

So essentially, everyone who's said they're not worried about encountering strange men in the woods should in theory be perfectly comfortable about going out by themselves at night in isolated places.

We are discussing whether you would rather meet a bear or a man in the woods, not the TV show.😀

Well, that's me in the corner, with the hat of shame on for a bit 😂

I'd rather encounter a man than a bear because:
a) I know nothing about bears so have no idea how to assess whether this is a very dangerous bear, how to avoid making it angry/defensive, or whether I would stand any chance of fighting it off/escaping from it. With a man I feel I have some chance of deciding whether I could escape from him/fight him off and if not I might be able to work out how to appease him so that I stood a chance of survival.

b) If I came across a bear I would assume that the change of it doing me serious harm was 100%, whereas I feel that there is a better chance that this particular man will not do me any harm at all.
However, hypothetically, if I had to accept that I would be non-fatally attacked by either a bear or a man I would choose the bear. Partly because it's far less likely that I would be blamed for putting myself in a position where I was attacked and/or accused of having consented to the attack.

If I came across either a bear or a man I would feel very scared. In this country I there are no wild bears so to avoid danger from bears I just need avoid going in bear enclosures at zoos etc. To manage the risk of dangerous men, I make almost daily decisions about where to go/how to get there/at what time/whether it is safe to go alone. If I could somehow guarantee that I would only encounter women I would not feel the same need to consider my personal safety.

In answer to pps who asked what we would do walking in the woods in the dark if there were no men- when I wake up late at night and can't sleep (thanks menopause) I might go for a walk in the woods by torchlight to look at the stars/wildlife.

I'm a 48 year old woman, and of course I've always known life is different for girls and women, compared to males.

About a year or so ago DP decided he wanted some air so he decided to go for a walk around the small park which was on the other side of the road from our house. It was 11pm.

I don't know what it was, but the penny suddenly dropped.

I'm not a small woman, I'm strong, and I'm not especially timid in general. But walk around a park at 11pm? Absolutely fucking not. Wouldn't ever even consider it.

It was like a sudden and huge realisation of the silent weight that women carry. How we have to think about everything. How we unconsciously weigh up risk and harm in every little thing that we do. How our lives and our safe choices are so, so different to men.

I can't imagine a life where I could take a stroll wherever and whenever I wanted at night without being worried about being raped, sexually assaulted, or killed.

When we get in a minicab, thinking about whether it's safer to sit in the front or the back.

When we hear footsteps in a street behind us, wondering whether we're in danger.

Always walking the long way round because it's busier and well-lit, rather than taking the short-cut home.

Every decision we make is weighed up against the potential dangers that are presented by men.

I think it's really hard to truly grasp the full magnitude of how different our lives are, and how fucked up it really is.

I live in a country with bears and often walk in the forest near my house, often after dark (once at midnight, on Halloween, because my DD insisted we go for a spooky Halloween walk). I feel pretty comfortable there except for once, when a man was walking behind me for quite a while, keeping pace with me even though I was walking quite fast but I sped up and he didn't which was a relief.

Thankfully its extremely unlikely for a bear to be in my forest, because you're never very far from a road in it but I have walked in forests with bears in a short drive away and luckily didn't come across any, just saw the telltale marks that they had been there.

I think there was an invisible polar bear in Lost. I can't say for sure because I quit after one episode, which I am told was very much the right choice.

Apologies if this has been said, but isn't the whole point not which one you choose, but more the fact that when asked the question, people are taking a moment to think? I mean if someone said would you rather be in the woods with a kitten or a bear, or a woman or a bear, we'd answer without hesitation, but when the choice is man or bear, the fact any of us pause to consider which one, says volumes about men and how safe women are around them. I'd choose man too, but I paused and weighed it up first...

One of my goals in life is to hike alone in Yellowstone.

I wouldn’t hike alone in the middle of the woods at night in the UK because I would fear for my safety, even though there are no bears.