Blog Dis
When the bear speaks volumes...
2026-03-10
The wheel keeps on turning and turning but the level of confusion hasn't waned. I enjoy the back and forth banter that is profuse on Threads. Well, the nature of Threads is to initiate threads of discussion. Initially, I was blasé on Threads, until I realized that commentary is highly active vs X, as an example, which is a place where I recently read on one person's post is best described as the smoking area of the social network realm. This is accurate, as much as it's funny. 😂Yet, and with Threads, the intent is to share meaningful content, for the most part. Sure. Sure. There are those who need to vent, and others who poke the bear in the cave, hoping for traction on their ridiculous bait posts. On the whole, however, the commentary on Threads is intended for the intellectual.
Every once in a while a man will post a remark or I'll see a video on Instagram that is picked up on Threads, of a man attempting to make sense of why in the world would women even consider choosing the bear, when they can have a real man, who is their own species. This is the conundrum scenario that posits if a woman was hiking in the woods alone and encountered a bear, she'd prefer this option rather than to encounter a strange man. I've listened to men debating each other or men arguing with women, as men attempt to comprehend why a woman would want to choose the bear in the first place, knowing they'd potentially be eaten. This scenario received a lot of vitriol, when it first came out. The controversy doesn't appear to be waning as a subject matter.
Allow me to shed a ray of light on the bear choice, from a woman's perspective. To do so, however, I first need to flip this scenario on its head, to come from the perspective of a father. One father, when asked who he'd rather his 13 year-old daughter encounter in the woods, were she by herself with no one else around to help her — a man or a bear? The father took less than one second to respond.
"A bear without doubt," said the father.
"Why?" asked the interviewer.
"Because there's a chance the bear will ignore her vs my daughter being alone with a strange man who knows his actions aren't being observed by anyone. My daughter wouldn't stand a chance."
What this father was speaking to was accountability, to be held to a standard of human decency, even when the abhorrent men of this world would rather that everyone look the other way, to allow these men to do whatever they want to do, or to carry out whatever they can without accountability or retribution.
I now view this proposed scenario on a deeper level. It means from a woman's perspective the chances of encountering a bear are slim. Yes, a bear might attack and eat you. The chances, however, of encountering a strange man are conversely extremely high, and this means the girl will surely be put in more danger than were she to encounter a bear. She doesn't know the man. She doesn't want to know him and she sure af can't place her trust in a strange man. Women learn early on, as girls in the single-digit age category, that the worst of men don't regard innocence as something precious, to be cherished and protected, more so if the girl is of no relation to them. Women learn they are treated as prey, through the eyes of a man whose actions won't be held up to scrutiny. This explains why the male predators of this world will go out of their way to attack and assault women at night, when it's dark or in a basement parking lot, or in the very early morning hours outside— there's less of a chance that someone will be on hand to stop their assault.
What disturbs me the most about this scenario is the level of butt-hurt feelings that men are expressing, because their egos can't extrapolate the notion that a bear would be chosen over themselves, to literally throw away their apparent male potential, in favor of an animal from whom they wouldn't be able to extract anything going into the future. You see? Some men have taken this scenario personally. They are deeply offended by the mere implication that women are more likely to be abused and assaulted by men, than men are by women or women by a bear.
The intent of the bear vs man scenario isn't to demonize men. Men are quite capable of demonizing themselves. The intent is to illustrate that the majority of women are unheard, more so if they've had direct experiences with the kind of men who mean to do them harm. Women continue to hope that men will reflect on why they choose the bear over them, rather than for men to take it personally, like a form of rejection.
Men are not the summation of their assurances to women. Women judge men based on their actions. What he tells you is more often than not him paying you lip service: I will protect you. I will provide for you. I will devote myself to you. But in reality what men don't want women to comprehend is that men have no issues with also treating each other horribly. Men will criticize and ostracize each other. Men will insult each other, like a form of game play. Men will default to their socialized behavior to compete with other men.
Here is where I could ramble on about how men come back with, "This proves that women hate men! Women are voicing their hatred of men out in the open!" No, my wayward friend! Women are merely articulating how they hate the lack of accountability and this is also the primary reason why too many women don't come forward to the authorities when they've been attacked by a man. The responses of men in positions of authority, defined by their very role to protect, with the power to do something about it, are often, "He's really a good guy... It would destroy his career... She should have avoided the environment... she shouldn't have dressed provocatively." This is another way of saying that his actions can't be called into question or that she made him do it, which is no different than an alcoholic beating his partner, and then turning around to accuse his partner whom he had just assaulted by declaring, "You made me do it."
I've lived on this planet plenty long, enough to speak frankly about the reality of being a woman. I don't know one woman in my life, not one, who doesn't have her own firsthand account of how a man either stalked her, molested her, sexually assaulted her, creeped on her, bullied her, humiliated her... all because he didn't view her as an equal with ownership of her body. These are the kind of men who regard women as objects. This fact enrages some men because it casts a spotlight on how very little has changed, and how women are still viewed to this day as ornaments to supplement a man, and to prop up his ego in terms of how he is perceived in the world by his guy friends. This is also the reason why I won't ever cycle in the early morning when it's dark, nor why I won't cycle late into the evening when it's dark. As a woman, we know that our very presence is viewed as easy-pickings by the men who are fully aware of the culture of looking the other way.
One woman in her late 20s in Ottawa had gone out for a run, in the early morning, along the very cycle path I use, and she was abducted and murdered by a man merely for existing, for making the grave mistake of crossing the wrong man's path. If you've been on X in the last six months, you'll know that X's algorithm was recently updated to block those men using AI to undress girls online. Nor, do I see the disgusting posts anymore of men making jokes about raping girls. It was never funny. It shall never be funny, and if you're a guy reading this, and shaking your head, "Women can't take a joke." No. Some jokes are in poor taste. And some women are of the opinion that a husband is proof that women can take a joke. But don't take this personally.
All men are tyrants when good men look the other way.
Every once in a while a man will post a remark or I'll see a video on Instagram that is picked up on Threads, of a man attempting to make sense of why in the world would women even consider choosing the bear, when they can have a real man, who is their own species. This is the conundrum scenario that posits if a woman was hiking in the woods alone and encountered a bear, she'd prefer this option rather than to encounter a strange man. I've listened to men debating each other or men arguing with women, as men attempt to comprehend why a woman would want to choose the bear in the first place, knowing they'd potentially be eaten. This scenario received a lot of vitriol, when it first came out. The controversy doesn't appear to be waning as a subject matter.
Allow me to shed a ray of light on the bear choice, from a woman's perspective. To do so, however, I first need to flip this scenario on its head, to come from the perspective of a father. One father, when asked who he'd rather his 13 year-old daughter encounter in the woods, were she by herself with no one else around to help her — a man or a bear? The father took less than one second to respond.
"A bear without doubt," said the father.
"Why?" asked the interviewer.
"Because there's a chance the bear will ignore her vs my daughter being alone with a strange man who knows his actions aren't being observed by anyone. My daughter wouldn't stand a chance."
What this father was speaking to was accountability, to be held to a standard of human decency, even when the abhorrent men of this world would rather that everyone look the other way, to allow these men to do whatever they want to do, or to carry out whatever they can without accountability or retribution.
I now view this proposed scenario on a deeper level. It means from a woman's perspective the chances of encountering a bear are slim. Yes, a bear might attack and eat you. The chances, however, of encountering a strange man are conversely extremely high, and this means the girl will surely be put in more danger than were she to encounter a bear. She doesn't know the man. She doesn't want to know him and she sure af can't place her trust in a strange man. Women learn early on, as girls in the single-digit age category, that the worst of men don't regard innocence as something precious, to be cherished and protected, more so if the girl is of no relation to them. Women learn they are treated as prey, through the eyes of a man whose actions won't be held up to scrutiny. This explains why the male predators of this world will go out of their way to attack and assault women at night, when it's dark or in a basement parking lot, or in the very early morning hours outside— there's less of a chance that someone will be on hand to stop their assault.
What disturbs me the most about this scenario is the level of butt-hurt feelings that men are expressing, because their egos can't extrapolate the notion that a bear would be chosen over themselves, to literally throw away their apparent male potential, in favor of an animal from whom they wouldn't be able to extract anything going into the future. You see? Some men have taken this scenario personally. They are deeply offended by the mere implication that women are more likely to be abused and assaulted by men, than men are by women or women by a bear.
The intent of the bear vs man scenario isn't to demonize men. Men are quite capable of demonizing themselves. The intent is to illustrate that the majority of women are unheard, more so if they've had direct experiences with the kind of men who mean to do them harm. Women continue to hope that men will reflect on why they choose the bear over them, rather than for men to take it personally, like a form of rejection.
Men are not the summation of their assurances to women. Women judge men based on their actions. What he tells you is more often than not him paying you lip service: I will protect you. I will provide for you. I will devote myself to you. But in reality what men don't want women to comprehend is that men have no issues with also treating each other horribly. Men will criticize and ostracize each other. Men will insult each other, like a form of game play. Men will default to their socialized behavior to compete with other men.
Here is where I could ramble on about how men come back with, "This proves that women hate men! Women are voicing their hatred of men out in the open!" No, my wayward friend! Women are merely articulating how they hate the lack of accountability and this is also the primary reason why too many women don't come forward to the authorities when they've been attacked by a man. The responses of men in positions of authority, defined by their very role to protect, with the power to do something about it, are often, "He's really a good guy... It would destroy his career... She should have avoided the environment... she shouldn't have dressed provocatively." This is another way of saying that his actions can't be called into question or that she made him do it, which is no different than an alcoholic beating his partner, and then turning around to accuse his partner whom he had just assaulted by declaring, "You made me do it."
I've lived on this planet plenty long, enough to speak frankly about the reality of being a woman. I don't know one woman in my life, not one, who doesn't have her own firsthand account of how a man either stalked her, molested her, sexually assaulted her, creeped on her, bullied her, humiliated her... all because he didn't view her as an equal with ownership of her body. These are the kind of men who regard women as objects. This fact enrages some men because it casts a spotlight on how very little has changed, and how women are still viewed to this day as ornaments to supplement a man, and to prop up his ego in terms of how he is perceived in the world by his guy friends. This is also the reason why I won't ever cycle in the early morning when it's dark, nor why I won't cycle late into the evening when it's dark. As a woman, we know that our very presence is viewed as easy-pickings by the men who are fully aware of the culture of looking the other way.
One woman in her late 20s in Ottawa had gone out for a run, in the early morning, along the very cycle path I use, and she was abducted and murdered by a man merely for existing, for making the grave mistake of crossing the wrong man's path. If you've been on X in the last six months, you'll know that X's algorithm was recently updated to block those men using AI to undress girls online. Nor, do I see the disgusting posts anymore of men making jokes about raping girls. It was never funny. It shall never be funny, and if you're a guy reading this, and shaking your head, "Women can't take a joke." No. Some jokes are in poor taste. And some women are of the opinion that a husband is proof that women can take a joke. But don't take this personally.
All men are tyrants when good men look the other way.
