There's a recent social media trend going around (especially with Gen Z but millennials also) asking girls if they'd rather be stuck in the woods with a grizzly bear or a human male. Most are - of course - saying a bear because nothing a bear can do is anywhere near as bad as what a human male can do. It's spawned big conversations about the "lived experiences" of women and how they live in an unsafe world where they feel extreme fear all of the time.

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The depressing truth behind viral ‘stuck in the woods with a bear’ trend

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If you have been on TikTok lately, you may have come across the latest viral debate: “Would you rather be stuck in the woods with a man or a bear?” The answer – from many women at least – seems to have overwhelmingly been ‘bear’.

Regardless of the merits of the questions, the debate has highlighted the extent to which many women fear for their safety – and the wildly differing perspectives on how safe men and women feel based purely on what sex they are.

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Women responded by posting videos unpacking why they agreed with the sentiment, with one saying her reaction was that “a bear can be reasoned", which, she acknowledged, was "the craziest thing I've ever thought – but it's true."

It was that video in particular that made the debate go viral, gaining four million views. In it, she says: “If a man has made the conscious decision that he wants to take sexual gratification from your body willingly or unwillingly, and he has decided to assault you or rape you, you cannot rationalise with him.”

Of the 25,000 comments below that video alone, the majority appear to agree with the poster.

One commented: “If I've been attacked by a bear and tell people I'm now scared of bears, they won't tell me my fear is irrational.” Another said: "People would believe me if I said I was attacked by a bear.”

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Alec Newman, the son of a bear attack victim, posted his own video describing the horrific experience and injuries endured by his mother, saying she had been “through things you wouldn’t even possibly begin to imagine”. Newman’s mother, he said, was equally dismissive of the question, describing it as “asinine”.

Newman’s video was not received well by many women overall with one video posted by Betty Jackson which has 3.3 million views, saying: “That's crazy because I just talked to the bear friends, and they all said he didn’t do it.”

One commented: “Did she try saying ”no” loud enough?” while another wrote, “Allegations like that could really ruin the bear's life. He's a good bear with a bright future ahead of him.”

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Dr Lisa Sugiura, associate professor in cybercrime and gender, said the viral question highlighted that women are taught from an early age to live in fear of and anticipate men’s violence.

“Women are not told to take precautions when walking alone because a bear will want to attack and rape them,” she told Yahoo News. “For many women, the stark reality is that they will have been subjected to men's violence, as the World Health Organization notes that one in three women globally will have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Women are overwhelmingly the victims of sexualised violence and men are commonly the perpetrators – including against other men.”

She added: “Men are generally surprised, defensive even, when the subject of male violence against women is discussed.

LINK

I don't know, Lisa. Maybe because the majority of men aren't violent against women?

Anyways, what do y'all think? Bear or human male?

This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 8:54 am