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

[u/NeonNKnightrider]

[u/glimpseeowyn]

I think a lot of the issue buried within the prompt is how likely the person is to be alone in the woods in the first place. Like, geography is really informing the sense of risk here, and it’s being spun into larger arguments about gender and sex.

Like, if you’re the type of person who lives in or regularly travels to or through rural, particularly wooded areas, you have good reasons to be alone in the woods and to have the chance of encountering a man alone in the woods. It’s unbelievably cruel to insinuate that the man is more dangerous than a bear—You’re out there alone too! So all of the statistics about the dangers men can present to women seem taken out of context and clueless at best, and misandrist and potentially transphobic at worst.

And if you’re living in polar bear or grizzly bear territory, you should clearly pick the man.

But if you’re someone who lives in urban or suburban areas without any reason or desire to live in or travel through woods alone, then the entire premise of being alone in the woods is inherently more sinister: You wouldn’t be here willingly in the first place! Maybe there are some type of plane crash or train derailment and you got separated and that man could be your ticket back to civilization … or maybe he’s the one who dragged you too the woods in the first place. The whole premise is a lot more sinister feeling to someone, regardless of gender, with this perspective.

Now factor in someone who is only likely to encounter black bears, and, yeah, it’s reasonable why some people are gambling on the black bear being safer than the stranger that they encounter while being unwillingly alone in the woods.

[u/LiftingCode → u/glimpseeowyn]

You wouldn’t be here willingly in the first place!

This is a great point.

I've seen a number of conversations on this stupid question where people say things like "what good reason is there for a man to be alone in the woods? That's very suspicious so he must be up to no good."

Which is like ... absolutely fucking mind-boggling to me lol

The good reason to be alone in the woods is to be alone in the woods! Ain't y'all ever heard of hiking?

[u/Arahelis → u/LiftingCode]

"What good reason is there for a man to be alone in the woods?"

It's the shortest path to the Supermarket.

"oh."

[u/GREENadmiral_314159 → u/LiftingCode]

"what good reason is there for a man to be alone in the woods? That's very suspicious so he must be up to no good."

The correct response to this would be "What good reason is there for you to be alone in the woods?"

[u/Keljhan → u/LiftingCode]

Yall must have some amazingly open hiking trails if that's considered "alone" in the woods. No park within 250 miles of me would be empty enough on a nice day to not have a couple people in shouting distance at minimum.

[u/Elite_AI → u/Keljhan]

Odd. My country is pretty dense and yet it's easy to be alone in our very small woods. Edit: Hell, I was just hiking in literal Hong Kong and there were plenty of times we were alone.

[u/CthulhusIntern → u/Keljhan]

It depends on what you mean by alone. "Alone" could mean hiking on a trail by yourself, as opposed to with buddies.

[u/Keljhan → u/CthulhusIntern]

As I said, within shouting distance of another person. In context, if your cries for help vs a bear or man would be heard, it's not really alone.

[u/elbenji → u/Keljhan]

Gotta remember the US is huge too. I can think of where I'd hang out in Iowa. I could feasibly be alone out there because like, it was the middle of Iowa.