I Think The Bear Would Choose Us Too

I’m sure we’ve all seen those videos by now where someone asks a woman “would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear?” And all the responses are “the bear.” 

When I first saw a video of it on TikTok—without hesitation—I immediately thought ‘bear’ and was surprised in myself and felt a bit of guilt at my immediate decision. That was until I learned that every time I’ve heard this, a woman says ‘bear’ as well. And after some thinking with men, asking a similar question if they’d leave their daughter in the woods with a ‘man’ or ‘bear,’ they ultimately, shamefully, decide to bear too.

I’ve thought about it for a while. Why would we feel more comfortable with the bear? I can’t speak for anyone else, but for one, I know the bear belongs there in the woods. There’s a better chance of surviving the bear (if the man were there to harm me that is) by simply raising my arms and scaring it off in defense. Or if it were to kill me… at least it would be within rational reason.

More reasons I’ve heard from other women that I completely agree with is that, the bear wouldn’t hunt us for fun, or rape us. And if we survived a bear attack, people would believe us. They wouldn’t ask what we were wearing or what we said or did to provoke the bear.

It made me think about my real-life bear encounter I had when I was in Alaska 4 years ago. It was a black bear, which is far less dangerous than a grizzly or polar bear, but nonetheless a real, wild animal that could kill me if provoked. 

I was staying in a cabin on a lake with my boyfriend at the time and 4 other men who were out there to hunt and fish. I was the only woman. I didn’t sleep the whole night. I got up at the crack of dawn while they all slept and I snuck outside. I walked around the campsite admiring the beauty of nature and how peaceful it was. And suddenly a full-grown black bear began wandering along the shore towards the woods. I didn’t move or make a sound letting it pass by. But my presence must have caught its attention because it stopped a mere 20 feet away and looked right at me. 

I knew that I probably scared it more than it scared me, but we just stared at each other for a bit. I was calm and still, showing no threat. Looking into its eyes, it seemed relaxed too. And after a moment, it carried on into the woods. 

When I told the boys about my encounter they all responded with agression. One said I was an idiot for being out there alone and getting that close, another said it “would have been a very different situation if he were there instead of me,” and the one that had a gun fantasized about having a full grown black bear on his wall.

And I’d like to think that the bear felt safe and thankful it was me it ran into.