The question is designed to be as divisive as possible. It categorizes large swathes of people into just 2 groups - man or bear. The man group contains mansplainers, but it also contains regular people who simply view humanity as naturally altruistic. The bear group contains people with concerns about men overpowering women, but also contains people who earnestly believe that most if not all men will try to do it if given the chance.
The problem is that people either are unable to or unwilling to acknowledge that these categories are not monolithic. And in claiming that all people in the man group are incels, you are inadvertently insulting everyone in that group. Likewise, in claiming that all people in the bear group are misandrists, you are inadvertently dismissing everyone in that group.
It is not productive to make claims about people based only on their answer to the question. In fact, it appears to be entirely the intention of the question to divide even rational people by exploiting the general human inability to see subgroups within larger categories
I thought it was from the woman’s perspective. She doesn’t know if the man is an incel or a regular, well behaved person.
The point is: do you roll the dice on the man, who could be anything, or the bear, who is a bear.
The known potential bad is better than the unknown potential bad. At least a bear won’t rape you before/while killing you.
IMO, the answer given exposes more about the life experiences of the women answerers, and the result seems to be that their experiences have been bad.
My only issue with that mentality is it completely ignores reality. I understand that most women have had a bad experience with a guy here or there. What they don’t seem to understand is that the types of guys that are doing these things are a small percentage of the population.
The guys that are pulling this crap aren’t even gonna get offended by this whole “man or bear” thing in the first place. At the end of the day it just makes the rest of us feel even more dejected and apathetic about it all. Why should I champion for any woman when I’m going to be seen as a predator regardless?
The fact that treating someone as a person hinges on what you get out of it is a huge problem.
That’s a fair assumption from what I said though that’s not how I meant it.
I treat everyone equally regardless of what is or isn’t between their legs. I’m generally just that helpful guy that’s always offering help to people even if they don’t outright ask for it. I just try my best to make sure everything is going smoothly for everyone around me.
But I bet not a single woman I’ve interacted with would ever remember me helping them. They’d never remember me going out of my way to make sure they felt safe and were having as good of a time as possible. But they’ll never forget that guy that made them uncomfortable. And that’s all they’ll think about. They’ll ignore every single man they interacted with. They’ll ignore all the men that didn’t do anything to them. The men that treated them like normal human beings.
I’m not gonna change how I treat everyone. But it’s really fuckin annoying to constantly hear “all men” when I’m actively going out of my way to be as helpful as possible.
Feels sisyphean.
The only people I’ve seen saying “all men” are men who are butthurt that women calculate the risk of being in the woods with a bear as less risky. None of the women who are choosing the bear say that.
The number of people either too dense or too willfully misogynistic to understand what this is about is depressing.
If you’re arguing bear statistics or saying “not all men” or decrying misandry, then you’ve totally missed the point. If you are doing it intentionally, you’re the type of men women would choose the bear over.
The fact that anyone would choose a dangerous animal over a random man is an indictment against the culture surrounding male privilege and should spark introspection and change. Arguments against this is just ignoring women and solidifies the decision that the bear is better.
This whole thing is just another way of pitting men and women against each other.
Men having to listen to women and be confronted with reality and the harms their gender and society are actively causing is NOT pitting people against each other. Women don’t want to fight and ostracize men. They want to be safe FROM men.
If you see this discussion and feel defensive, that’s your brain trying to tell you something’s wrong and you should probably analyze why you feel like you are being attacked.
You are conflating all men with the guilty.
“not all men!”
Enough men that most women would choose a fucking bear. Look in the mirror: you’re the problem.
You’re conflating what you think argument is with what the article was actually about.
The true solution is to be single. It’s great, I suggest everyone try it.
Being single and sticking to your guns i.e standards when it comes to dating. Don’t be flexible. Don’t be lenient. Don’t compromise. Showing either means exploitation and people will want you to do things that’ll undermine your standards.
i think you are better off single
Single away from shitbags like you, yes, I agree being better off single than trying to chance being with people like you thanks.
Can the woman choose which kind of bear?
Is it a black bear or polar bear? What kind of bear are we talking about here? If she can choose the bear, can she also choose the man?
Is it random bear and random man? Random bear gives a rather high chance of polar bear. Random man gives a rather low chance of violent man.
We need a random bear man simulator to run the data. We deserve answers!
I don’t care for the debate. I care for statistics.
Do you live above the Arctic circle or something? The most common bear is a black bear.
I live rather far north yes. I’ve seen polar bears before when traveling in the deep arctic. I have never seen any other bear.
Black bears are pretty scared of people as far as I’ve seen online. Polar bears are afraid of missing a meal.
I’d choose a brown bear because “If it’s brown, lay down.” All I have to do is pretend to sleep and he goes away. No murder, no rape. Just a nap & peace & quiet. Sounds ideal to me!
I know more about polar bears than the others. But I’ve heard the saying; if it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s white, good night.