The viral ‘bear vs man’ debate: Why women are picking the wild animal

A hypothetical question about being stuck with a man or a bear has spurred a raging debate on social media. The question asked to women is simple: Would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear?

However, the replies to this and the subsequent reaction by men to the women’s answers have shed light on women’s safety. Men have gone off the rails after discovering that most women would choose to be stuck with a bear.

We will explain what is happening.

How did the ‘man vs bear’ debate start?

The origins are not entirely known but some say the debate, which has been going on for weeks, began after a TikTok account Screenshot HQ posted a video of two hosts discussing this ‘man or bear’ topic.

The clip, which was posted on 10 April, has been viewed over 16.7 million times.

As per CNN, the interviewer asks eight women on the street whether they would be stuck with a man or a bear in a forest. An overwhelming majority, seven out of eight, say bear.

“Bear. Man is scary,” one woman responds.

“Well, I’ve heard about bears, they don’t always attack you, right? Unless you like f— with them. So maybe a bear,” another woman can be heard saying in the video.

“Oh, 100 per cent a bear, which is terrifying to say. Definitely a bear. Some men are very scary out there,” a third said.

The topic has exploded on social media, including Instagram, X and TikTok, where a significant number of women declared they would choose the animal, irking some men.

Question shows disturbing reality

The video has exposed the ugly reality of women’s safety around the world, highlighting the gender-based violence that women and girls face.

The comments on the viral TikTok video made it amply clear why women would pick a bear.

“Absolutely a bear humans are capable of so so much worse.”

“I know a bear’s intentions,” another woman wrote. “I don’t know a man’s intentions. no matter how nice they are.”

“Bear, because If I got attacked by a bear people would believe me.”

“No one’s gonna ask me if I led the bear on or give me a pamphlet on bear attack prevention tips”, another user said.

TikTok was also flooded with videos of people posing this question to their family and friends.

A woman asks her husband on camera, “Would you rather our daughter be stuck in the woods with a bear or a man?”

He replies that “didn’t like either option” but was “leaning towards the bear”. When asked to choose between a woman or a bear, the husband, without hesitation, says: “Woman”.

The viral footage also led to several women recalling instances of sexual assault, domestic abuse and other forms of violence they have been subjected to by men.

“‘Man or bear’ a bear because I was 4, 13, 15, 18 :/”, someone commented.

An estimated 736 million (73.6 crore) women, nearly one in three, have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence, or both, according to the United Nations data. Globally, about 89,000 women and girls were killed in 2022, the UN data showed.

Men are angry

The hypothetical question has angered men who cannot digest that women would rather be stuck with a bear.

Some even dubbed the question “misandrist” and an excuse to hate on men, noted CNN.

Others used it to berate and mock women.

A post on X proved the point of why most women would choose a bear. It shows a cartoon of a woman telling a bear she was “glad” to be “stuck with” the animal “instead of a man teehee.” In the second panel, the bear has violently attacked her.

A top response to this “meme” sums the situation, “Help me understand the math. Women said they feel safer with a bear than a man. So in response you as a man decided to create imagery of them being violently dissected to prove that you’re not violent and are safe to be around?”

Why some have missed the point

People who are mocking women for choosing bear are missing the point. It is not about how dangerous a bear is. Everyone knows that and there is no need to mansplain it to women.

Women are not saying that the bear does not scare them or it would not kill them. They are saying that a potential bear attack is less petrifying than what a man could do to them.

The entire debate has revealed the misogyny and gender-based violence women face in real life.

A TikTok account called DadChats explains this, “If you encounter a bear in the woods, your first thought is going to be, ‘I am a little scared but this makes sense because the woods is where bears live’. So if you really want to be accurate, what you would actually have to do is compare instances of violence by men against women in the homes of the different species we’re looking at.”

Notably, even some men are choosing bear.

A TikToker asked her father, a bear hunter, which he would pick for her. “You’d have a better chance with the bear,” he said and then added, “Because men are evil.”

As Mark Greene, the author of Remaking Manhood, pointed out, “The fact that women would even consider hypothetical man/bear questions means we have utterly failed to create a safe society. (Read that again if you need to.) Because men commit 80 per cent of violent assaults against women, girls, non-binary folks, and other men, this is on men to fix.”

What this ‘man vs bear’ debate would do, in an ideal world, is not just spark a conversation about women’s safety but lead to active steps in making spaces safe for women. But alas, we don’t live in an ideal world. And all (some) men are capable of focusing on is how women would prefer a wild animal over them.

With inputs from agencies