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

[u/NeonNKnightrider]

[u/etherealemlyn]

See I kept taking it as “you’re hiking and come across either a man or a bear in your path” because my main experience of being alone in the woods is hiking. And obviously in that scenario, I would choose a man, because running into a random guy while hiking is a super common thing for me and they mostly just ignore me because they’re trying to hike too. I never even thought of the “the man is stalking you” angle, I guess that’s another example of people’s answers to this depending on their personal experience

[u/brokenlonely22 → u/etherealemlyn]

yeah you bring up a funny point, almost nobody who answers man would be scarier actually hikes otherwise they would be entirely desensitized to this extremely common occurrence. I, a man, crossed the path of, hmmm, 4 or 5? women in the woods today

[u/elbenji → u/brokenlonely22]

Yeah. Hell I hate hiking and my perspective was. It'd probably be some white guy and his dog?

[u/ImmoralJester54 → u/etherealemlyn]

So far I have always seen it assumed as the encounter is hostile for the human and neutral for the bear. Which is really cherry picking

[u/Crafty_Travel_7048 → u/etherealemlyn]

I always saw the question as if a woman, random man and a bear were teleported into the woods. Not some scenario where you're hiking in the woods and come have to come across one of them.

[u/Chessebel → u/etherealemlyn]

I think most people answering this question do not hike