This is such a weird debate.
I work in an environment where I am locked, on my own, for hours at a time with a man I do not know. It’s a different man each time I go to work. The place I am locked in is a small bulletproof box only 10ft square. I will eat and sometimes sleep in close proximity with this man I do not know. Sometimes I have to sleep in a bunk which is even smaller still, and the only thing separating me from the man is a curtain down the middle of the bed.
In over 25 years of working like this, I’ve never felt threatened. I realise this puts me in a lucky position, but statistically, I should have encountered a threat somewhere along the way, and I haven’t.
I also take part in 2 sports which see me on my own in a forest, with men also taking part. They are there for taking part in the sport too. I feel comfortable asking them for help, and frequently run or ride with them. I’ve been in forests with wild animals in at night, and would rather take my chances with a man than a wild bear.
For me, a forest is generally a safe and welcoming place, I don’t feel uncomfortable in them. I feel a lot more threatened in a city walking on my own. This is despite there being more people around. I walk in a city in a state of alertness to people around me, because I don’t always feel safe. Statistically, you are more likely to be attacked, killed or raped in a city. Random attacks in the countryside make headline news precisely because they are so rare. We had one several years ago at the bottom of the hill from us. I still feel safer in my forest than in a city.
People’s perception of ‘safe’ is very much dependent on their regular surroundings, their comfort zones, and as has already been stated numerous times the argument ‘man vs bear’ is very much dependent on the man and on the bear. Jack the Ripper vs a koala bear? I’ll take the bear. My Mr Menno vs a grizzly? I’ll take the man. In general, stood in a forest confronted by a random bear and a random man? I would still assume the man was a safer bet than the bear.
The whole of biology is built on males and females forming partnerships. And for the most part, this works because for all the men who attack women, there are still millions and millions more who don’t. The rapists and the killers are aberrations, and even in prison these men are treated as aberrations by the other (male) prisoners. Most men are disgusted by men who attack women.
I think this is a sad and divisive argument that will have no winners.