The Man vs Bear Meme

A TikTok trend recently sparked a debate showed that the majority of women surveyed said they would feel more comfortable encountering a bear than an unknown man in the woods. This response has resonated with many women, who have shared their own experiences and perspectives on social media.

The reasons women have given for choosing a bear over a man:

1.      No Victim-Blaming: No one would question what I was wearing if the bear attacked me.

2.      No Accusations of Consent: No one would accuse me of liking the bear attack.

3.      Clearer Motives: A bear's motives are easier to understand.

4.      No Gaslighting: A bear won't accuse me of leading them on by being nice to them.

5.      No Forced Pregnancy: I would not be forced to carry the bear's babies to term in 27 states.

6.      Fewer Horrific Outcomes: The bear will either kill me or leave me alone - there are not 400 other horrible ways a bear can hurt me. There are worse fates in life than dying.

7.      No Human Trafficking: Bears do not traffic women.

8.      No Victim-Blaming Supporters: A bear's friends won't come out to say how nice the bear is and how my attack is ruining its life.

9.  No Doubts About the Attack: No one will question if the bear attack really happened.

10.  Basic Humanity: The bear sees me as a human being.

11.  If I survive the bear attack, I won't have to see the bear at family reunions.

12.  The bear did not pretend to be my friend for months beforehand.

13.  A bear would not film the attack and send it to their friends.

The Statistics

When asked to choose between a man or a bear, 9 out of 10 women instantly chose the bear, without even needing to think about it. This near-universal consensus among women is striking, especially given how divided we can be on other issues. Our almost unanimous agreement doesn’t stem from the fact that we feel safe with the bear, we just know exactly what to expect from them. Something we can’t say about men.

• According to the World Health Organization, one in three women globally have been the victim of an assault over the course of their lifetime.

• In 2022, nearly 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally across the globe, the highest yearly number recorded in the past two decades. Source: UN Women

• Every year, there are 433,648 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault in the U.S., according to the Sexual Assault Victims Advocacy Center.

• One out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime, while 1 out of every 33 American men have.

• The National Institute of Health found that men who have been raped overwhelmingly report the perpetrator was another man, in 87% of cases.

• Every 68 seconds another American is sexually assaulted, 90% of the victims are women, reports the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

Meanwhile, black bears have killed just 61 people in North America in the last 124 years. And you have a much higher chance of being killed by a dog (30-50 people per year), a swarm of bees (100 people per year), or by lightning (28 people per year).

Women are just playing the odds.

The Reality

This trend reflects the reality that women face - the pervasive threat of violence, harassment, and objectification by men. While the bear may pose a physical danger, women feel that the bear's motives are more straightforward and that they are less likely to face the complex trauma and aftermath of an attack by a man. And no, certainly not all men. But the issue is, at least the bear presents as a bear. With male human predators, we can’t tell.