Firstly: I’m reasonably sure these women are just kvetching. I often say ‘I’d rather drink piss’ to express that I don’t like something. Obviously I’m not actually going to drink piss.
Secondly…I do agree it’s a bit much to compare men to a deadly 1200 pound predator. I would be a bit fed up of hearing that too if I were a guy.
Thirdly…that said…I understand WHY women say that even if it’s a bit ridiculous. I’ve had a male friend completely turn on a dime and send me rape threats while drunk. I pleaded and tried to reason with him for about 20 minutes before I completely snapped and threatened to do things to him with a hunting knife that I won’t detail because there’s no need to make people vomit. Only then did he back off and switch to making excuses and blaming his autism. It was terrifying because there was no reasoning with him. He LIKED that I was frightened and freaked out. It gave him a pleasurable power rush. The only reason he backed off was the threat of said hunting knife.
A bear isn’t malicious. A bear just wants to eat. A bear can be redirected or avoided. You can do things such as wear a bell or carry mace or put up an electric fence around a tent. A man isn’t necessarily malicious but IF he is…those precautions won’t do jack poopsies because he consciously knows the woman doesn’t want it and LIKES the act of stomping on boundaries.
Yes. YES YOU DO. 99% of men are not a threat TO YOU. But how could you know any different?
To women though? It’s way way WAY higher. For me it’s not even a question between bear or man. Men are the reason I am scared to walk by myself at night.
Like, just go by the numbers if you are skeptical
https://vpc.org/press/nearly-1800-women-murdered-by-men-in-one-year-new-violence-policy-center-study-finds/
https://animal-world.com/bear-attack-statistics/
You need to step out of your own perspective and really understand the world that women are forced to live in before answering this question. I can respect that you think you might be biased, but I can not stress enough how “biased” is an understatement.
Right?? Even I as a small gay man know that cis straight men are not to be trusted. They don’t have to threaten me with sexual violence, but I know for a fact that when they mutter shit about me, they have the very real possibility of trying it.
Some of us are, in a very palpable sense, walking in the woods in Bear Country constantly. But he doesn’t see it because it’s not him in our shoes. And so the same defensive rhetoric comes out on Lemmy and Reddit and all the other bullshit social media every single time. Because it’s not them living next door to a delinquent who has publicly yelled obscenities and threats at them directly for existing.
E: Downvote all you want if you feel identified. It’s not gonna change what we live through.