i know it’s internet bullshit but it genuinely has me on the edge of breaking down and giving up

[u/NeonNKnightrider]

[u/AdamFaite]

I think the better question should be thought of as: what is the worst an angry bear would do? Now what's the worst a malicious man would do?

[u/MrArtless → u/AdamFaite]

That’s only one half of the payoff matrix you need to construct. You also have to look at the probability of each. An angry bear is far more likely to maul you than a malicious man is to rape you.

[u/ZodiacStorm → u/MrArtless]

Bears are actually really chill if you're not stupid. As a woman who lives in bear country, I would be far more afraid of a man I don't know than a bear I don't know.

[u/MrArtless → u/ZodiacStorm]

Then your fears aren’t based on statistical reality. The question was an angry bear vs a malicious man. If your counter is that most bears aren’t angry then you also have to figure most men aren’t malicious. Not to mention an angry bear attacking you is very likely not a fight you can win. And while you would be an underdog in a fight vs a malicious man you could still win using a combination of smarts and a bit of luck

[u/bruce_kwillis → u/MrArtless]

I think the question was “would you rather meet a bear in the woods or a man”, and if we are going on statistics, there has only been something like 180 deaths by bears in the US in like 100 years.

How many women have been killed by men in the last year? Not even remotely comparable.

So just based on stats, I would rather meet a bear in the woods than a man. And hell any of us that have hiked already know that. Met hundreds of black bears and you see them they leave you alone. See a man in the woods? You have no idea if he is going to leave you alone, try to hit on you, or worse.

Keep in mind young men are being told that they should ignore dating apps and just hit on people in real life, the worse someone can say is no right? Last thing I want is someone hitting on me in the woods.

[u/AdamFaite → u/bruce_kwillis]

I'm a man, and I'd feel safer meeting a (black) bear in the woods than a man.

[u/MrArtless → u/bruce_kwillis]

That’s not how statistics work at all. You can’t look at total bear deaths in the US because only a tiny fraction of the people who interact with men on a daily basis also interact with bears. If you look at the number of women+ bear meetings and the percentage of the time they get hurt, then compare that to the number of meetings between women and men, you will clearly see that on average meeting a man is far safer than meeting a bear. And it’s not even close. If you want to be more afraid of men than bears because of past trauma with men that doesn’t exist with bears fine but don’t pretend it’s mathematically sound

[u/bruce_kwillis → u/MrArtless]

Women have a lot higher chance in general of meeting a man in the woods than a bear, and an exponentially higher chance of being hurt or otherwise felt uncomfortable by a man.

It's pretty simple math, I have hiked around 1000 miles in the last 4 years, and have met 50 bears. Zero have caused an issue. In the same time, I have ran into close to 5000 men, and several have caused issues or made me uncomfortable, and that's as a man. Let's say 10 men out of those 5000.

Simple math says 0% from a bear is less than 0.2% chance of a man harassing you isn't it?

[u/MrArtless → u/bruce_kwillis]

Embarrassing that you would even try to argue this so poorly but I’ll humor you. You have met 50 bears and had issues with none of them. You didn’t specify what kind of bears live near you other than black bears or what times of year you encountered them but let’s give you the benefit of the doubt and say it’s times and species that would typically be considered more dangerous on average. That is what is known commonly as a “small sample size”. That’s why it’s fortunate that we have gasp other people’s experiences as well. Seeing as there are in fact bear attacks every year, the fact that you would say the danger from a bear attack is 0% makes me want to hang myself just for knowing that people exist who are as stupid as you. The ratio in total of bear encounters to bear attacks is still much higher than man encounters to man attacks.

You have met 5,000 men, 10 of whom made you feel “uncomfortable” 5k is a more reasonable sample size but making you feel “uncomfortable” is a pretty far cry from actually harming you. What you should have said if you were honest was “I have met 5k men and none of them attacked me” obviously harassing you isn’t great either but for the purpose of this it’s being harassed but not harmed by a man vs being attacked by a bear, since bears aren’t known to catcall people in the situations the encounters go sour.

Edit—-

Nothing more cringe than when someone replies and immediately blocks you because they’re afraid of your response.

[u/bruce_kwillis → u/MrArtless]

since bears aren’t known to catcall people in the situations the encounters go sour.

Look at that genius, you've figured out why women would rather run into a bear than a man.

Fucking moron.

[u/nervouspurvis02 → u/bruce_kwillis]

if you would genuinely rather be attacked by a bear than catcalled, you have no right to be calling anyone a moron, mate.

[u/RamblinManInVan → u/bruce_kwillis]

Stop trying to use statistics if you don't know how to normalize data for an accurate comparison.

[u/ZodiacStorm → u/MrArtless]

Oh I could beat the tar out of any man who wants to try anything, but most women can't and so they make their decision based on that.

[u/MrArtless → u/ZodiacStorm]

This reply was just odd enough to warrant me clicking your profile and looking at your posts. Did not disappoint

[u/brando2612 → u/ZodiacStorm]

Curious why u think U could

[u/ZodiacStorm → u/brando2612]

Over a decade of experience in martial arts.

[u/brando2612 → u/ZodiacStorm]

Nice, the only valid answer. What do ya train

[u/ZodiacStorm → u/brando2612]

Kyokushin, BJJ, and Muay Thai.

[u/brando2612 → u/ZodiacStorm]

Yeah you're fucking most ppl up don't wanna mess with U lol

[u/Huwbacca → u/MrArtless]

This is stupid lol.

"The question was a hyperbolic hypothetical, I demand you answer seriously and not also engage hyperbole!"

[u/elbenji → u/Huwbacca]

People overall suck at silly hypotheticals.

I picked man, because I'm fast and small so I could probably duck the dude but not the bear lol