Would you rather be left alone in the woods with a strange man or a bear?
This is the question that’s been all over social media for the last few weeks.
However, for women and men, there seems to be a difference in what the ‘obvious’ response is. Men seem to think that being alone with a man is safer but, in contrast, many women would much prefer to be left alone with a bear, and, to be honest, that makes perfect sense.
While this may seem like a trivial debate, especially given that it started on TikTok, the reasons that women would feel safer with a bear really highlight how terrifying the world can be for us.
Why women feel safer alone with a bear than a man
It may be tempting to write this off as a feminist fad or something that doesn’t really make sense in the real world but the words that women are saying are as a result of fear, trauma, and violence against women being still widespread.
One TikTok user collated reasons that women had given for preferring a bear including, “The worst thing a bear can do is kill me”, “the bear sees me as a human being” and, strikingly, “the bear doesn’t get enjoyment out of it.”
Other users have actually taken the question to men, asking whether they’d rather their daughter or wife was left alone with a bear or a man. One man said: “I think you’re more likely to anticipate what a bear would do than what a man would do.”
The thing is, bear attacks are rare and the US National Park Service has said that most bear encounters end without injury. There are around 40 bear attacks per year, according to a study published in Nature.
Contrast that with stats from Rape Crisis. According to the charity, 1 in 4
women have been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult. Additionally, 68,387 rapes were recorded by police in 2023.
On their website, Rape Crisis said: “There’s currently a record number of sexual offence cases that are waiting to go to court: 10,141.”
Additionally, according to the Femicide Census: “The Femicide Census shows that a woman has been killed by a man, on average, once every 3 days, over a 10-year period.”
It’s not all men, but it’s enough men that being alone with a strange man in the woods is far more horrifying a prospect than being alone with a bear in the woods.
Help and support:
- Rape Crisis services for women and girls who have been raped or have experienced sexual violence - 0808 802 9999
- Survivors UK offers support for men and boys - 0203 598 3898