Unless you’re one of those sensible people who actually succeeds in not spending too much time online, you’ve probably seen something somewhere about the man versus bear debate.
I gather it began on TikTok (which I don’t watch on account of not being into video when words work just fine) but I’ve seen it on all the social media that I do read. Basically, women were asked whether, if they were hiking on a trail, they’d rather run into a bear or a man.
A vast majority of women said bear.
Some percentage of men were upset by this and proceeded to explain to women just how dangerous bears really are, on account of they assumed women couldn’t possibly understand that bears were dangerous.
Most of the posts I read about this were by women dunking on such men. Many shared a quote from someone – I only saw it in meme form so I don’t know who – to the effect of “If I were attacked by a bear, no one would ask what I’d been wearing.”
Which is to say that a lot of women used this bit to hammer home the fact that most women are conscious all the time that they’re at risk from men. It brought out the lists of things that most women do to protect themselves.
Note to the men out there: that list does not usually include “find a big strong man to protect me” because most women are well-aware of just how badly that can go.
While these days I usually go backpacking with my sweetheart, on account of the fact that we both like it and also that he is willing to do the part of setting up the tent that involves crawling around on the ground, an activity that my knees do not care for, I have in the past done such trips both by myself or with another woman.
I have not had a problematic run-in with either a bear or a man on those trips. I attribute the lack of bear problem to the fact that I used to hang my food in trees, as you are instructed to do when doing backcountry hiking in the Shenandoah National Park.
And one good way to avoid the man problem is to camp out of sight of the trail, which is also the accepted practice (or was back when I did it) in that park. If you can’t see people on the trail, they can’t see you.
Here in California, perhaps because of greater worry about fire, you are instructed to camp at designated campsites. There are shelters in Shenandoah National Park and people do stay in those as well. But I always used the camping off the trail system on the East Coast.
The closest I ever came to bears was one night when I was car camping in West Virginia and heard much snuffling outside my tent. I was sure it was bears. I was terrified. I finally summoned up the nerve to peek out of the tent and saw a large herd of deer. I’d apparently pitched a tent right in the middle of their salad bar.
On the East Coast, and in fact in most of the United States, the only bears you’re going to meet are black bears (some of which are brownish in color) and as long as you aren’t, say, between a mother and her cubs, you can probably scare them off by making lots of noise.
Grizzly bears are much more dangerous. Apparently polar bears are even more dangerous than grizzlies, a fact that I didn’t know until this subject came up.
If we’re talking black bears, I’d probably rather meet one of those than a man on a trail – assuming no cubs. I mean, it would be really cool to see a bear. I see men every day, but not bears.
But I’m not a good candidate for this discussion, because the truth is I’m not particularly afraid of men. Spending half your life training in martial arts will do that for you.
That doesn’t mean I’m not sensible about them, as anyone should be. The apex predator for human beings is, in fact, other human beings, and crime statistics will bear out that men are much more dangerous than women.
Women kill occasionally, but men kill much more often.
There are several things that might concern me about a man on a trail. Is he armed with something more than a hiking stick and a pocket knife? (Both those things can be weapons, but they are practical tools.) Is he part of a group of guys, especially a group of rowdy guys? I tend to avoid men hanging out in groups in the city, at least, because if one of them is a bad actor, he might encourage the rest to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. Also, I’m pretty confident that I can handle one unarmed guy; a group of guys, not quite so much.
But here’s the thing that bothers me about this whole discussion. It emphasizes stranger danger. If you’re out hiking and meet someone, chances are it is not someone you know.
We hear a lot about stranger danger in our society. Maybe it’s always been a concern. We humans do tend to clump in groups and can be suspicious of someone who’s not part of our particular group.
But when it comes to male violence against women, the problem isn’t strangers but men you know. It’s not just intimate partners, though that’s a big part of the problem; it’s also acquaintances and even friends.
Now I’m not saying that strangers never attack women – I once defended myself from a rape attack by a stranger – only that it is less of a problem than the attacks on women by people they know.
According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report from 2009, ten percent of women homicide victims in 2007 were killed by a stranger. 64 percent were killed by an intimate partner or other family member; 25 percent by someone else they know.
That same study reports that 29 percent of male murder victims were killed by strangers, so even though men are also more often killed by people they know, they are at greater risk from strangers than women.
Worldwide, men are about 79 percent of murder victims; the U.S. figures show 82 percent of murder victims in 2020 were male (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide_statistics_by_gender).
In my opinion, men are insufficiently worried about the dangers of other men.
Women are also worried about rape and sexual assault, for very good reason. That same BJS study from 2009 said about 31 percent of rapes of women are committed by strangers. That’s certainly enough to make you pay attention, but the study also points out that 57 percent are committed by someone known to the victim.
It’s important to evaluate the people around you, known and unknown, and to take action to get away from anyone who makes you uncomfortable. That’s self defense 101.
Just remember that it isn’t just men you don’t know who can be dangerous.
Bears are easier to evaluate, on the whole.
I am not a hike-in-the-woods person, so this is all purely hypothetical. But I’d go with the bear. As you say: bears are easier to evaluate. If I encounter a bear (outside of a zoo) I know that 1) I am a visitor in the bear’s space, and I will exercise caution until I can get out of the bear’s space. That may not work, and I might be mauled or killed–but I know what to expect. If a bear is threatened by me, it’s because I’m in its space, and anything alien (like a 70-year-old woman with bad knees) is a threat until chased off or destroyed. The bear is doing what a bear does, according to bear rules, in bear space.
If I meet a man in the woods, it’s a wild-card. That’s the scary thing. It may be–is probably likely to be–a man who has no interest in me or in hurting me. But it might not be. And assuming I survive the encounter, I know that our society is still prone to assume that I must have done something to provoke the man to violence. “What were you doing there? How were you dressed? Why didn’t you–1) run; 2) appease; 3) call for help; 4) **insert useless option of your choice here.** Unless, of course, I’m dead and cannot be grilled for my choices.
Your response echoes most of the serious responses I’ve seen.
While there are other dangerous animals in the world — especially if you’re in their space and perceived as either a threat or food — humans remain at most risk from other humans. The more I see these discussions, the more I think women are being reasonable to be concerned and that men — who are at greater risk of being killed — should pay more attention.
BTW, I saw via James Fallows that bears have now been seen in Washington, DC, making this less hypothetical. Given the actions of some of the men elected to national office who are necessarily found in DC at times, bears are looking more and more attractive.
Here is an excellent piece on the subject by a woman who does long bike travel and camping alone. https://bikepacking.com/plog/man-or-bear-debate/