The man vs bear meme

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^ There are plenty of voices in this thread that are female voices or men who are echoing or voicing female perspectives.

In the interests of balance, I don't think my comments were inappropriate, but you can think what you like, of course.

The only humour I have used in this thread was, I have explained previously, in relation to the comparison of man and bear specifically, and the joke was at the expense of men, if you bothered to read it properly.

Ideally, people would have a human perspective. It doesn’t need to be an either/or thing.

Knock it off, blitzkrieg - you're dragging this thread entirely off topic with interminable arguing.

It's not about you, what you meant, or how you're perceived.
Feel free to start a thread about that.

Okay, I shall take my leave in this thread, CF.

Thank you.

The theme of the meme is trauma and vulnerability, not "Men are bad".

Replace the man / woman with any variable and the vulnerable group might pick bears.
People of colour: Choose between an American cop and a bear.
Male victims of crime: Choose between a bear or an angry man.
Trans / gay community: Choose between conservative bigots or a bear.


Take your pick. ^


I'm not trying to move the goalposts and don't expect answers.^

The meme isn't about sexism.
It's to highlight the long lasting effect of trauma, vulnerability, and fear.
In this case it's about women's fear.
It could easily be about any other trauma for any other demographic.


Another consideration is that just because I chose men over bears it doesn't mean I'd be particularly comfortable with that choice. Depending on the situation, his proximity, his behaviour etc., I'd still be thinking "What if?"

I would still be reminding myself like a mantra "It's going to be OK. Most men are nice." I'd still be hyper-vigilant about the situation because that's an involuntary response to trauma.

If we could all just shrug off trauma by telling ourselves the fear might be baseless, or by using some self-guided Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and some wishful visualization, psychologists worldwide would be out of their jobs.

I think that’s a really good point.

The last time I saw a bear when I was out hiking it wasn’t that far from me in terms of distance, but it was on the other side of a ravine - like the letter V. I didn’t fear for my safety. I just thought it was really cool to see a bear in its native environment. If it would’ve been a man, I would’ve been more anxious because he could’ve had a gun or he could’ve formulated a plan to run into me further up the trail.

If my choice were a strange man or a bear in close proximity (minus a ravine), I would probably go with the man although I would be anxious about it. I’m not comfortable being alone with men I don’t know in secluded locations. As I’ve mentioned earlier in the thread, my heart starts to race, and I get a bit panicky. That’s not something I can control. It’s the result of trauma. Many women have had traumatic experiences or they have loved ones who did, so similar reactions might be something many experience.

The meme is pretty dull really. Looking at it from a pure danger perspective, if all men were replaced by bears, I'm pretty sure the outcome would be obvious.

Yeah, it's funny how when you intentionally take things out of context, they make less sense

But lets take the silly premise and run with it. If all men were replaced with bears (which is not the implication of the meme, btw), all the bears would sod off to the woods, and cities would be a lot safer for women?

I know more than a few women who, if their partner were replaced with a literal actual bear, they'd legit be better off.

Yes yes, women are being assaulted - totally best to focus on the quality of the memes, rather than the intended message, or the actual problem...

Let's compare apples to apples. Of all the people killed by bears in the countryside, how many unknown men passed them by a few meters away on a hiking trail or crossed paths while camping hours, days, weeks, even years beforehand? Probably hundreds.

How many bears did they pass within a few meters beforehand? Probably just one and it didn't end well. Being in close proximity to a man is much safer than being in close proximity to a bear, strictly focusing on the reality. How women feel about it is a separate issue and the reality vs personal feelings is what's made the meme so controversial.

A bear will not attack MOST OF THE TIME. Bears are very unlikely to attack humans. So you're factually wrong in addition to being despicable (for no apparent reason) toward the very important issue of sexual violence against women.

The truth of the matter is that bears don't rape people.
Women are frightened of SA, possibly even more than being mauled.

That speaks volumes about how traumatic it is to survive SA.

I think there are two elements to the meme. The first, how women actually feel about it and the second is the hypothetical reality of the notion the meme is predicated on, should it actually happen.

I think both need to be picked apart.

Y'know, it would be great if the thread just returned to the topic - which has been described in reminders several times already, and stopped morphing into a bizarre off-topic discussion about the nature of bears.

The nature of men and bears is what the meme is about though.