Of bears and men: How big does a risk have to be before you "have to" walk around scared? [View all]

[Silent3]

Last edited Wed May 8, 2024, 12:02 AM - Edit history (1)

I think we all know that the great majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated by men a victim already knows: A family member, a (seeming) friend, cases of date rape.

Even before this whole bear vs. man thing got revved up on the internet, I'd often seen posts like this:



Yet rarest kind of sexual assault is a stranger attacking out of the blue in a park, a parking lot, or a dark alley.

That it's rare doesn't, of course, make it a matter of no concern. It's still a terrible thing. But the fear that women have about these kinds of attacks is often contrasted with what men supposedly experience out and about in the world, which is that they have so little need to be afraid they can't possibly appreciate the terror women have to live with.

But it's not like men don't get attacked. It's just seldom a sexual assault (unless it's a man in a prison). Men still, of course, get mugged and beaten up and knifed and shot and killed in random attacks out of the blue. Those things can be deeply traumatic, even without a sexual component.

I don't have exact statistics here. I know that back when I did a lot of hiking in New Hampshire, bear attacks were a pretty low risk. No one had been killed by a bear in NH since 1859, and getting mauled by one of the local black bears was pretty rare too.

Odds of bear attacks are certainly higher when grizzly bears are about, but even then, I don't think attacks are that frequent.

So, what about sexual assaults by men out in the woods, when a lone woman encounters a lone man? I'm sure it happens, but is it really such a large risk to get all worked up about, and worth demonizing men as if they are hugely more scary than wild bears?

I knew of some women hikers back in NH who would say things like, "If I'm alone in the woods, and run into a man, I'm going to shoot first and ask questions later!" I'm pretty sure that this was just tough talk, and not an actual plan of action... but jeez! Men aren't that dangerous!

I don't want to seem callous about the fear that many women experience. But isn't there something to be said about scaling down one's fear to be more in line with actual real-world risks?