Man or Bear

[circa1978]

If you haven't seen this all over social media, the question is that if you (a woman) are alone in the woods, would you rather come across a strange man or a bear.

My husband's answer to this was predictably derpy, as he first wanted to argue that if there was a man in the woods, you wouldn't be alone and then that there was a chance the man could help you (presuming I need help?) but a 0 percent chance the bear would 🤦‍♀️. I'd still probably take the bear.


 ETA: This is the video that started the convo: www.today.com/news/bear-or-man-woods-tiktok-trend-rcna149611

[ssmjlm]

Im so glad I’m so behind on SM trends.

I guess a man? I mean what would I do with a bear?

Either way, the chances of me being alone in the woods are almost zero. I’m not outdoorsy.

[sproctopus]

Apr 28, 2024 11:23:36 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Im so glad I’m so behind on SM trends.

I guess a man? I mean what would I do with a bear?

Either way, the chances of me being alone in the woods are almost zero. I’m not outdoorsy.

it's more of who's a bigger threat to you

[Patsy Baloney]

I feel like I need more context for this question. I’ve seen it around and am still not sure how I’d answer. Is it docile bear and docile man, or attacking bear and attacking man? Either way, I think I’d probably pick man because my confidence in both making conversation with and kicking a man’s ass is a lot higher than a bear’s. But at the same time, I’d rather look at a bear and quietly retreat than be around a man.

Tough call.

[wanderingback]

Definitely a man.
If 1 is going to attack me with their bare hands I at least have more of a chance against a man. Who would want to go up against an angry bear? But maybe I’m not understanding the question.

[fivechickens]

Apr 28, 2024 11:23:36 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Im so glad I’m so behind on SM trends.

I guess a man? I mean what would I do with a bear?

Either way, the chances of me being alone in the woods are almost zero. I’m not outdoorsy.

But with a man you don’t know what you’re going to get. He could be perfectly nice or he could also be perfectly awful. With the bear you know exactly what you are getting.

[ssmjlm]

Apr 28, 2024 11:29:17 GMT -5 fivechickens said:

Apr 28, 2024 11:23:36 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Im so glad I’m so behind on SM trends.

I guess a man? I mean what would I do with a bear?

Either way, the chances of me being alone in the woods are almost zero. I’m not outdoorsy.

But with a man you don’t know what you’re going to get. He could be perfectly nice or he could also be perfectly awful. With the bear you know exactly what you are getting.

Bur do you?

I could probably talk myself out of dealing with a man. A bear typically has one instinct.

Or are we now equating men to wild bears?

I’ll stick to my patio and pool. 😉

[circa1978]

I presume the bear is a minding their business bear, not agitated. The man is an unknown. Making the bear angry/charging is a different situation, IMO. I think I'd have a better chance against an angry man vs an angry bear but OTOH, the bear is unlikely to be armed or rape me so IDK.

[wanderingback]

Oh here’s an anecdote, I have somewhat been in this scenario! I did go to Alaska alone and went on some walks where bears are. I also encountered men alone. I was very happy to never encounter a bear and didn’t have any problems with the men.

[fivechickens]

Apr 28, 2024 11:33:10 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Apr 28, 2024 11:29:17 GMT -5 fivechickens said:

But with a man you don’t know what you’re going to get. He could be perfectly nice or he could also be perfectly awful. With the bear you know exactly what you are getting.

Bur do you?

I could probably talk myself out of dealing with a man. A bear typically has one instinct.

Or are we now equating men to wild bears?

I’ll stick to my patio and pool. 😉

I mean a bear is going to bear, right?

It’s about how women have to watch how they react to men because we don’t know how a man will react to our reaction. How any man we don’t know IRL women may be cautious when approached by them. OR how we tell our kids ‘if you ever get lost look for another mom and approach her for help’ we don’t often tell kids to approach men.

[hermione]

I think we’re missing the point. We have no other info on purpose. The option is strange man or bear. We don’t know if either is agitated, hungry, etc. I’d choose bear on the assumption that it is less likely to attack me than a man.

[circa1978]

Apr 28, 2024 11:43:17 GMT -5 hermione said:

I think we’re missing the point. We have no other info on purpose. The option is strange man or bear. We don’t know if either is agitated, hungry, etc. I’d choose bear on the assumption that it is less likely to attack me than a man.

I also think it is interesting the different ways we imagine the situation when faced with it. Like, in my head, I am not on a trail or something, where I could reasonably expect to find a man. I'm literally in the middle of the woods and both man and bear come out of nowhere. But how we picture it probably has a lot to do with something I didn't take enough psychology classes to interpret, lol. 

[waverly]

I would have chosen man maybe because being attacked wasn’t front of mind more like just hiking on a trail keep it moving.

But Google tells me I am way less likely to be attacked by a bear so I guess bear.

[loira]

I've seen this all over SM so am familiar with a lot of the reasons why women are choosing the bear. I also think this question is better suited to those who are fairly familiar with bears and bear safety. I agree with answering bear, because bears are generally predictable, don't see us as food, belong in the forest etc. The probability of the bear attacking is pretty low. If you get the wrong man in that forest, who knows what that dude is there for, does he have a gun? I am assuming this trend originated in the US, which also affects my answer. Dude in a forest in the US? Gun. Dude in the forest in France? Probably no gun.

I'm assuming black bear or grizzly, because the question talks about the forest. Hell no would I choose to take my chances with a polar bear. Those things will hunt me for sure.

[toepick]

I think the meaning behind this question becomes more clear when you twist it to say would you rather come across a bear or a woman. Nobody is answering woman.

[TR]

I saw a response on TikTok where someone had stitched a guy saying his mom had been mauled by a bear and the woman stitching his video was like “I don’t know, I talked to the bear’s friends and they said he didn’t do it.” lol and the comments section was comedy gold

[emilyinchile]

I voted man because I feel like if a man attacked me in the woods he might horribly assault me but not actually kill me, whereas a bear attack would kill me because I am not Leo in The Revenant.

But I've had a bear come through our campsite in the middle of the night just looking for food, so I feel like odds are the bear would probably not attack me at all, and I'm not so sure about a random man in the woods.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

If I’m in the woods, it’s definitely the end times, BUT I choose bear. I’ve seen criminal minds too many times, man, there is NEVER a good outcome when you meet a man in the woods

[SusanBAnthony]

Apr 28, 2024 12:19:11 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

I voted man because I feel like if a man attacked me in the woods he might horribly assault me but not actually kill me, whereas a bear attack would kill me because I am not Leo in The Revenant.

But I've had a bear come through our campsite in the middle of the night just looking for food, so I feel like odds are the bear would probably not attack me at all, and I'm not so sure about a random man in the woods.

I picked man for the same reason, but after reading the comments about a man being more likely to attack than a bear, u change my mind to bear.

[lilac05]

I would tend to say a man, but recognize this is a combination of both privilege and luck.

If there was more information, my answer could easily change. If the man is hiding, I’ll take the bear who is hiding, please.

[Eagles]

Absolutely bear. Haven't you guys watched Dateline?

[dirtyred]

I have encountered a bear ( one a mother with cubs) 3 times and the bear and I both retreated at the same time.

I chose bear.

[plutosmoon]

I picked bear, but bears around here leave you pretty much alone. I have encountered the occasional black bear in my yard and on hike, they usually just keep on about their business. Men might want to start being chatty or handsy or worse. My answer might differ if the bears around here were meaner.

[lilypad1126]

My H and I were talking about this yesterday. He was asking why I would be so afraid of a random man in the woods and I asked him why he insists on walking me to my car at 5am when I'm heading to the airport (we don't have a garage and I have to park around the corner). His response was literally "Well, it's dark and what if there's a man hiding outside waiting for you?" The slow blink i did at that was comical.

No one wants to be mauled by a bear. But part of the responses I'm seeing on SM are about how there are some fates worth than death, and how women are taught to fight with everything they've got and never get in a car with a guy who's attacking them/forcing them in a car b/c that's the absolute worst thing you could do. And it makes me think of how some women constantly have a commentary running in the back of their minds about how to stay alert to keep from being attacked by men (keys in hand when walking to your car, don't take dark stairwells, etc etc).

[jinkies]

In order of preference:

Black bear
Man
Grizzly
Polar bear

[chickadee77]

Bear.

Unless we're waaaaay up north and it's a polar bear. Then man.

Most of the bears where I tend to travel are black bears, and they usually take off when you move around and make noise, especially if they haven't been around people before.

[chickadee77]

Apr 28, 2024 13:37:59 GMT -5 jinkies said:

In order of preference:

Black bear
Man
Grizzly
Polar bear

You are much more succinct than I!

[InBetweenDays]

For me it depends on what constitutes "woods". If I'm in our wooded park in the middle of our semi-urban area - I would maybe choose a bear. But if I'm out backpacking in the mountains I'd choose a man. Personally I don't think I've ever encountered a man in the wilderness who has made me feel uncomfortable. Running in our wooded park? Sure. In the backcountry? No.

[CurlyQ284]

I saw this making the rounds on TT and asked my husband this and HE said bear 😂

He said "I don't know what that guy is doing in the woods, or what his plans are but the bear wants food and will probably go away if I yell at it." He camps in a hammock in the woods in Michigan in January every year (psycho!) and has had run ins with wildlife, possibly a bear once. He said it was too dark to see what was sniffing around his hammock so he just stayed still and waited for it to leave 😱 I thought it was interesting that he chose the bear.

I had a full on panic attack during the Revenant bear attack scene. I'd pick bear as long as it's not grizzly or polar.

[circa1978]

CurlyQ284, I saw a video of a bear charging at a man and the man screams and the bear runs the other way and the man freaking chases him. That was pretty much it for me.