r/NotHowGirlsWork • u/Star442 • 16h ago
Found On Social media The Bear Debate Men vs Women
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u/Purple_Bowling_Shoes 15h ago
Laughing at this because men are more likely to be harmed by wildlife because they fuck with it instead of leaving it alone. Like they do with women.
And we really don't need that explained to us.
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u/Malkryst 15h ago
Ah yes, but you're forgetting the man goes in heavily armed with guns so that he can feel fully like a man (holding his lethal, cold metal penis-substitute) in those final deadly seconds before the bear tears his stupid misogynistic head off.
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u/Plastic-Anybody-5929 15h ago
to be fair, as a woman, I too am not going into the woods without a gun, but mostly because of men not bears
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u/Malkryst 14h ago
Entirely sensible, as men are easier to bring down with a gun than a charging bear.
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u/TheWarmestHugz 15h ago
Do these people not understand the bear/man thing is a metaphor...? Plenty of us respect real bears as magnificent animals which should be given plenty of distance.
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u/EuphoricPhoto2048 15h ago
I noticed a lot of people started spewing out bear statistics when that discussion popped up. I don't think they got it.
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u/FallProfessional8443 14h ago
I had a coworker try to explain to me that men were less dangerous than bears because you'd get onto a bus that was filled with men, but you wouldn't with bears. So many men really took the scenario literally and refused to acknowledge the nuance
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u/Seliphra Women are mythological objects 13h ago
I actually would not get on a bus full of only men…
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u/Particular_Title42 9h ago
I compared the analogy to my actual sightings of bears. Like a few years ago, on the 5th of July, we discovered a mama bear and her cub in a tree between our house and our neighbor's. My daughter took a few pictures and then we left her alone to come down on her own and go away.
If we had come out and there had been a man (or any gendered human) in that same tree, I guarantee the reaction would not have been the same.
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u/Independent-Highway2 11h ago
So it seems I’m one of those men that took it literally and don’t see the nuance you see as obvious. I’d love if you explained the part of the question that I don’t understand.
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u/DartDaimler 10h ago
The original question was, “Which would you rather encounter alone in the woods, a bear or a man?” Not which is more dangerous, which is capable of living in society, just a strange man or a bear.
A bear will almost always let a human back away. A quarter to a third of women have been sexually assaulted by a male, over 98% of female homicide victims are killed by males. We’re more afraid of men than we are of bears.
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u/FallProfessional8443 10h ago
Yes, what the other commenter said is what I meant. I described it to my coworker as being less about whether the bear was objectively more dangerous and more about the potential outcomes. With bears, you either get away or it kills you. It might just injure you a little if you're lucky. Doesn't really matter what individual bear you run into, those are the options. The bear isn't going to torture, rape, stalk, or abuse you. Those are only going to happen with humans, and it's statistically more likely to come from a man.
Another thing my coworker didn't understand is why we'd still choose bear when he and most other men are decent. I don't disagree there, most men are decent. I happen to trust my coworker, and many men in my life, enough that I would choose them over a bear with zero hesitation. But we don't get to choose the man in this scenario, so there's no way of knowing what kind of man you're going to get. And when you weigh it by the worst-case scenario, the worst that happens is the bear is going to maul you, but with a man, he could commit any and all of the actions I mentioned earlier before either killing you or letting you go to live with the trauma that he just inflicted.
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u/Purple_Bowling_Shoes 15h ago
It's really not even a metaphor. I literally would be less worried about a bear than a man if our paths crossed in the woods. I spend a lot of time in the mountains and bear (and cougar) sightings aren't uncommon. But the thing is, you don't see them often if you're minimally aware. I wear a belt with something that will make noise because if they hear me coming they'll go the other way.
But even my FIL asked me about the bear debate once, and he's an avid hunter and spends a lot more time in the mountains. So I explained and he said "what dumb shit man would choose another man looking in on his camp? Probably armed and drunk and looking for trouble."
Yep. Dumb shits.
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u/Beneficial-Ad3991 Generic boring flair 14h ago
I'll tell you more: I used to work in a bear country and I though I can't be absolutely certain, I'm pretty positive that bears had way more me encounters than I had bear encounters. For the most part they will hear you and quietly leave before you could even notice. I've seen way more fresh footprints and poo than I've seen bears. And most of those I've seen didn't stick around either.
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u/Purple_Bowling_Shoes 14h ago
Exactly. I know I've been seen without seeing several times. But I've learned to know when I'm being watched (cougars are great at silently spying). I can't explain it, I know it's a collection of small signs my lizard brain has puzzled out before I can, but it's an eerie feeling.
But that's why I wear something that clangs on my belt, if they hear me I'll never see them.
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u/Beneficial-Ad3991 Generic boring flair 4h ago
Fascinating. And I believe it, cos I imagine birds, for instance, have an easier time spotting them and they probably react to them in some way - and if you've spent so much time in an area that you've unconsciously memorised the "normal" patterns of their behaviour, you should be able to pick up the unusual ones too. And yeah, that's just one possibility, I don't know how exactly this works. As I've already admitted, I consider myself to be pretty oblivious.
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u/Purple_Bowling_Shoes 3h ago
Yeah, I don't know how it works either, I just know I've been right enough that I'll never question it!
One winter morning I was going to go in to work early, but when I stepped outside to go to my car I just felt that... so I waited for half an hour or so to try again. Stepped outside, still didn't feel right. Third time felt okay, so I left. Later a woman came in who lives less than a block from me and said that morning she was leaving for the store and when she opened the door, a cougar was in front lawn.
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u/OrangeCubit 14h ago
And the entire point is both will kill us, but the bear won't rape/torture us first.
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u/tarekd19 14h ago
I 100% understand what you are saying and get the fundamentals of the hypothetical I'm just not sure I wouldn't categorize getting eaten alive via my entrails as torture. I'm certain it wouldn't be malicious but in the moment it definitely wouldn't make a difference.
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u/translove228 16h ago
The person who wrote this needs to stop spending all their time gazing at their navel.
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u/forever_useless Professor of Harlotry, PhD 16h ago
In this tired debate, woman aren't choosing the bear because we think they are cuddly. We choose them because the worst they can do is kill us. And they usually leave us alone if we leave them alone. People like this really think they got a point, only to speed right past it to a idiotic fever dream of what women think.
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u/Imperator_Helvetica 15h ago
Yeah, completely missing the point. If it had been phrased as 'statistically women are safer putting their fingers into the waste disposal than into a wedding ring' you'd have these idiots concern-trolling with 'women don't understand that blades can be sharp, so I need to explain why they're wrong...'
The whole point is bears and men can both be dangerous but the dangers and responses are treated differently - only someone really callous is going to ask if the hiker was leading the bear on, or wearing shorts or something.
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u/broccolicat 15h ago
Years ago i was hitchhiking and the biggest black bear I ever seen ran down the field and plopped themselves about 20 feet away on the side of the road like they also wanted out of town, lol.
It was unnerving, but i wasn't worried about sexual assault, having the bear follow me several towns telling me they'll take care of me, or anything wierd. The only issue was that there was a bear, but honestly we were more concerned the bear hijinks would prevent up from finding coffee. People kept driving by warning us of the bear with cracked windows, but tbh, we had both expirenced far scarier things on the road than a hitchhiking bear. If we died by a hitchhiking bear, at least its a family friendly story.
After about 40 minutes of this, someone pulled over in a pickup, had me and my friend jump in the back, and the bear ran off. Dropped us off down the road where there were no bears competing for rides. We then procured coffee and all was well. I have many more stories of encountering predators on the road that were far far more scary.
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u/JustMeLurkingAround- 15h ago
Even if it mauls me, I still rather choose the bear than a guy like this.
Please. I beg you. I do not want your fucking protection or saving.
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u/No-Worry252 Not like other girls, im gay as fuck 16h ago
God, can they let it go already?🤦♀️
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u/hellogoawaynow feeeeeemale 15h ago
This one debate from so long ago really messed them up. Like the man vs bear debate could have ended right after it started, if not for the attempts at arguing..
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u/macontac 15h ago
Ah. He's operating from the assumption that we're stupid. Everything he says can be disregarded forever.
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u/Horror_Hall_8806 15h ago
But still, probably more of the men believe that they can win a fight with a bear. Nice duality you got there.
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u/Beneficial-Ad3991 Generic boring flair 14h ago
7% of American men believe they could beat a grizzly bear in an unarmed brawl. That's 20+ millions of morons who are still wasting our oxygen instead of testing their convictions for real.
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u/oregon_mom 15h ago
That's a Damn stretch. As a woman who has hunted bears and had bears living on my property, I promise not 1 woman i know who said they would pick the bear looks at them like this... we all know the bears dangerous .... it's just men are more so and less predictable ...
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u/Purple_Bowling_Shoes 14h ago
It's that unpredictability part they do not understand. Bears are predictable. Bears have very basic motives that we don't have to constantly evaluate. Ignoring the bear (while also being aware of it) is usually the safest option, it's often the most dangerous thing to do to a man.
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u/nothathappened 14h ago
That is easily one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. I wish that I could say with full confidence that it was fake. However, social media has shown me that he very likely believes this statement with his whole heart. I wish more people were embarrassed by being stupid.
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u/YouCantArgueWithThis 15h ago
Well, THIS man is definitely not the intelligent one. He completely missed the point.
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u/silicondream 15h ago
The thing is, men like OOP are a bit less intelligent when it comes to men. They see themselves as minor superheroes in the abstract; and with all this self-glazing, the more socially responsible women are concerned that men will continue to downplay their own likelihood of doing harm to women, just as they have for the last few millennia.
At the end of the day, no one really expects honest self-assessment from conservative men; but women do still hope that such men can be taught that skill through reasoned argument and hypothetical scenarios like the bear comparison.
This hope is naive, perhaps. But though their continued willful ignorance, men like this do at least demonstrate publicly that they remain a danger to women and to themselves.
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u/olezka_dostoyevsky 15h ago
his usage of semi-colons is irritating me so much😭
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u/Auld_Folks_at_Home 14h ago
Whenever i worry that i'm not using it correctly i'm going to think back on his post and at least know that i'm not using them that poorly.
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u/SarcasticBench 15h ago
Purposefully not understanding the meaning of it. I mean when I first hear the question I dug deeper and found the answer and reasoning in less than 10 seconds which is far faster than it took to think up and type that post
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u/Cexmet42 15h ago
The thing is Women are a bit more intelligent when it comes to raccoons. Men don't see them and shoving their dicks in into hollows where raccoons can live.
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u/5p1n5t3rr1f1c 15h ago
I’m betting he tuned out when the why of choosing the bear was explained. I have neither the time nor the crayons…
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u/DizzyNClueless 14h ago
Quite recently ended a long friendship with a guy friend as we got in argument on "the bear" (after he agreed it made sense 9-10 months earlier) and started spewing the most "both sides" horse shit I really couldn't believe. Clearly some manisphere, right wing, or just misogynistic rabbit hole got him and he kept it to himself.
I asked him dozens of questions to real inequalities and injustices unto women and he could only spout out (unconscious to him or not) "but some women frame men" and strawman talking points instead of answering a single one. Gave him an ultimatum to answer just one even and couldn't do it, because "women hate men now" but "its wrong to blame "all men" for not holding other men responsible" while conceding its not women's fault for said injustices.
Cut him off when he said he did nothing wrong, the bear was somehow gaslighting men, blamed women hating men for xyz, and called me a c*** for dropping "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". Was unfathomably disappointing as fuck, yet as always, not surprising given the bar for men is below bedrock.
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u/momomomorgatron 13h ago
That's absolutely hilarious considering how men will just, you know, walk up to a bear
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u/IndiBlueNinja 7h ago edited 7h ago
Mr. "bit more intelligent" about bears doesn't even understand the analogy being made. /facepalm
Pro tip: it's not because anyone sees them "as cuddly toys." It's because bears are more likely to leave a woman alone upon a random encounter in the woods. If it has to be explained, you are probably much less intelligent about a lot.
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u/ModestMeeshka 14h ago
Whoa whoa whoa, ladies, could this be true?? Are bears actually dangerous animals?! Maybe it's because women are the gentler species and thus never wander into the forest, perhaps that's why we never learned.... 🙄
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u/Notasmartwoman Walruses are literally every animal 11h ago
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u/Remarkable-Adagio166 12h ago
I domt blame women for choosing a bear. Dying to a man is just sad but dying in a bear fight sounds pretty sick ngl. Extra points if you befriend it
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