Would you rather be stuck alone in the woods with a random man or a bear?
Recently this question has gone viral on the internet after a video of a man went around in public asking random women if they would rather be stuck alone in the woods with a man or a bear. The majority of the women answered they’d rather be stuck with the bear.
This outraged many men, as they took it like it was meant to simply hate on men. The answer most women gave to the question has caused men to call women stupid and ignorant for thinking they would be safe with the bear.
But what men fail to realize is the reason why women pick the bear isn’t because they hate men or because they think they’ll be safe with the bear. It’s because women have grown up in a world where the majority of the people hurting them are men.
Men have always oppressed women. The majority of misogyny has always been through the abuse and assault of women.
Though women commit crimes, men do so at significantly higher rates. As the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 2020, men commit 79% of crimes while women 17%. The remaining 4% are stated as offenders of both sexes.
Misogyny and violence against women has not disappeared but has increased over the years.
In fact, U.N. Women, a U.N. organization that dedicates itself to gender equality and women empowerment, states that violence against women has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.N. Women also shared data that showed violence toward women can be done through multiple ways. Cases occur through social media, laws that fail to protect women, femicide and human trafficking. Most of these crimes are done by male perpetrators, usually one the victim has a relationship with, such as family members and intimate partners or husbands.
A report by the United States Sentencing Commission showed in 2018 that 92.1% of sex offenders who have assaulted both men and women were men. In 2021 male sex offenders increased to 93.6%.
The World Health Organization states that globally, about 736 million women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or by someone they don’t know, making it one in three adult women.
With rates as high as those, women can’t feel safe around men, not even around men they know, let alone men they don’t know.
Women don’t know what will happen if they’re alone with a man. Women don’t know what men are capable of, and it’s scary a lot of men have gotten away after doing vile things to women.
Some women have been unfortunate when it comes to being alone with a man.
A tragic and infamous story is that of Junko Furata, a 17-year-old Japanese girl who was abducted, raped and tortured by 18-year-old Hiroshi Miyano, who Furata had rejected.
While Furata was riding on her bicycle on her way home, Minayo was with his friend Shinji Minato around the same area Furata was passing by.
Minayo ordered Minato to kick Furata off her bicycle. When Minato did as he was told, he fled, while Minayo helped Furata and acted as someone she could trust.
He had offered to walk her home and abducted her when they were alone. He held her for 42 days, brutally assaulting her in ways too disturbing to describe. Other men along with the boy’s friend group were involved in this torture. After 42 days of hell, Furata died.
The men who did this to her received light sentences and are free today. Four of the main perpetrators who were Minyano’s friends received five to ten years. Minyano, the main perpetrator, only received 20 years in prison.
Though some of their whereabouts are unknown, one of the perpetrators is on Twitter and still tweets about what happened to Furata, calling it a “childish mistake.” The perpetrators have been said to have started families. Furata never had the chance to do that.
Another story includes an 8-year-old girl in Korea who was the victim of Cho Doo Soon, who got to her when she was alone walking to school. He dragged her to a public bathroom where he then assaulted her.
He left the little girl with permanent damage to her lower abdomen and left her permanently disabled. Her father states she still has to wear a diaper.
Soon was supposed to receive life in prison but only got 12 with the excuse of being drunk. Today he walks free and was arrested on Dec. 4, 2023, and served time for three months for breaking the curfew laws he received as part of his sentence.
As for the victim, her father said she only watches cartoons or harmless fictional shows now trying to avoid the news, anything that could remind her of that day. She became a doctor to help other women who have to go through similar cases as hers. Her father also said she still fears that one day she will run into Cho Doo Soon. She lives traumatized.
If every example of cases where men have violently assaulted women was listed in this article, it would take millions of years to finish.
Even the justice system is failing women. If all these men could get away with the horrid things they have done, imagine what a random man alone with a woman in the woods could do.
The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network reported that out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, 310 alleged perpetrators will be taken to the legal system, and only 25 perpetrators are incarcerated.
There’s many other cases worldwide where abusive men, male sex offenders and male pedophiles have gotten simply a slap on the wrist.
A journalist turned YouTuber, Megan Lee, shares various stories on her channel mainly focused on cases of women being tortured or assaulted by men in Asia and how the justice system has done little or nothing close to justice.
Even other men choose the bear as well, particularly the ones who have been sexually abused by male family members or friends. Many people on TikTok have made videos explaining why they’d choose the bear.
The National Center for PTSD states out of 100 sexual abuse cases involving a male victim, 86 of the perpetrators are other men.
1in6 is a page that gives men that were sexually abused an opportunity to share their story. It also contains various stories where the perpetrators were other men.
Bears do not contribute to misogyny or sexual assault. Bears are not as aggressive as some modern-day men.
The worst thing a random bear could do to someone is attack them and kill them in a matter of seconds of minutes, or leave them with injuries. The worst thing a random man can do to a woman is much more unpredictable.
The torture a woman can face alone with a man could last hours, days, weeks, months, and leave permanent mental scars that can leave a woman never viewing the world the same again.
That is why women will always choose the bear.
