“b-but bears are actually dangerous!” Shut the hell up.

  • Kedly@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    I have some extra emotional capacity today so (see edit*) I’ll post some wrong think: but can we stop antagonizing populations that feel disenfranchised by society and therefor giving the truly evil fucks out there an easy population to brainwash and feed extra scummy ideologies to?

    Young nerdy men who feel excluded from society that dont have any strong female figures in their life are barraged by a constant stream of messaging that could easily be interpreted as “(white) men are evil and the source of all problems with society”

    By constantly antagonizing them for not being able to navigate the political nuance of those messages, we give an incredibly easy pathway to the more toxic ideologies that the Tates of the world will pull them into to profit off of them, because they are the only figures who will give them praise and a sense of belonging.

    Edit: Its a new day now, and I no longer have the energy. If you want to vent, understanding that venting in this manner will bring about little to no positive change, you do you, I will no longer be responding

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      yeah this pretty much.

      Polarized speech does nothing for anybody. If woman are talking about this bear thing to make a point, i feel like we would be better off actually making sure that people understood that it was about making a point, rather than a literal fucking interpretation of the problem

      but no, funny internet points are more important, capitalism ruins everything it fucking touches.

      • Kedly@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        These kinds of things are great for letting off steam with friends, but absolutely TERRIBLE at getting a point across to people who dont already know said point

        • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          specifically the intent here is to drum up drama, controversy and attention. Which obviously worked, but the problem is that nobody is using it to do something productive with.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Also known as: can we please stop pushing people into evil echo chambers by “moderating” them through auto ban because opinion we don’t like? Its not only men vs women, it applies to anything slightly divisive.

      We wouldn’t need the super thick skin that is needed now if we hadn’t banned all the people back in the day for merely disagreeing. They went to more evil places and now, consequently, are more evil. We are kinda reaping what we sowed

    • Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 months ago

      Don’t forget the other side, I’ve seen some of the discussions around this by women turn really TERFy. Both sides of this debate are gateways to the Alt right.

      • Kedly@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Tbh the TERF stuff isnt surprising since a lot of these memes have just a hint of Misandry to them, and when it comes to TERFs, they dont see Trans Women as women, and see them as men, so its moreso their ideas on men that are guiding their ideology, than it is about women

    • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      This right here is the reason I still bother to engage people on this topic. The women who honestly believe a bear is less threatening than a random man are a lost cause imo, so my goal is to help men find supportive people and spaces that aren’t dangerous idiots like Tate.

      You can be a man without being forced to exist in the manufactured redpill/male feminist dichotomy.

      • naught@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        I am a man and I am affected 0% by this meme. This meme was a chance to display some empathy and understand why it might be that the bear analogy strikes a chord with many women.

        When I go to the grocery store, do I have to think about being snatched? My privilege affords me the convenience of not worrying about that. Do I need to worry about being sexually assaulted walking home? Statistically, probably not. There are a whole host of problems and horrific fates that befall women disproportionately, and very often at the hands of men.

        Why would a woman feel safer with a bear?

        The 750,000 black bears of North America kill less than one person per year on the average, while men ages 18-24 are 167 times more likely to kill someone than a black bear.

        Most attacks by black bears are defensive reactions to a person who is too close, which is an easy situation to avoid. Injuries from these defensive reactions are usually minor.

        https://bear.org/bear-facts/how-dangerous-are-black-bears

        Since 1784 there have been 82 fatal human/bear conflicts by wild brown bears in North America. Yellowstone National Park has seen a mere 8 since being established in 1872, which is only one more than the number of people who have died from a falling tree.

        https://bearvault.com/bear-attack-statistics/

        Seems to me that even I would be safer with a bear than a man. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

    • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      L M A O white nerdy young men are not the perfect angels you think, I have multiple friends who were sexually assaulted by such people

    • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      This is not antagonizing men. This is important data for men. Do you want to get laid? Understand where women are coming from. Don’t do spooky shit on dates.

      Listen, I understand. It’s bad news, but it is what it is. It’s reality. It’s like women saying if you never take a shower or bath in your entire life, a relationship is out of the question.

      • Kedly@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        The fact that you are trying to pass this off as a way to get laid is honestly disgusting

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          10 months ago

          Why? Women like sex, they also like sex with men. Men like sex. Where is the problem?

          • Kedly@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            You’re either a troll, being the fucked kind of sarcastic, or you have some seriously fucked values…

            • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
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              10 months ago

              Ladies and gentlemen, this was their response. If they had a better one, they would have used it.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      can we stop antagonizing populations that feel disenfranchised by society and therefor giving the truly evil fucks out there an easy population to brainwash and feed extra scummy ideologies to?

      Young nerdy men who feel excluded from society that dont have any strong female figures in their life are barraged by a constant stream of messaging that could easily be interpreted as “(white) men are evil and the source of all problems with society”

      I think it’s a two-pronged problem.

      Young men are encouraged to be aggressive, thin-skinned, and superficial. They’re sold this idea of sex as a reward for climbing to the top of some nebulously defined social hierarchy rather than an expression of intimacy with a romantic partner.

      Meanwhile, young women are victims of the Madonna/Whore complex, simultaneously expected to be sexual and virginal, model-esque and down-to-earth, your plaything and your mom. They’re this thing men are expected to fight over, but also personally responsible for the drama created by this social expectation.

      And so much of this engineered conflict revolves around selling you something. Gym memberships or diet supplements or fashion accessories or self-help classes or luxury status symbols are all supposed to be a thing we can buy into in order to climb the ladder to an ideal romantic life. All to commodify the idea of love.

      By constantly antagonizing them for not being able to navigate the political nuance of those messages, we give an incredibly easy pathway to the more toxic ideologies that the Tates of the world will pull them into to profit off of them

      Guys like Andrew Tate are ultimately just bullies. And bullying is a tool that one class of people use to force the others to conform and submit. So much of this boils down to Tate inducting new members of his cult of personality by sending older members out to jump them in.

      The only real remedy is to shut these guys down. Stand together. Stick up for your friends and neighbors in the face of fascist bullying. Push back.

    • hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      10 months ago

      Man are not evil and I don’t think anyone is making that statement here, but the problem is that we can’t know which men are evil. Of course we should avoid antagonizing them, since, like you said, it often drives young lonely men towards the manosphere, but also men should try actually listening to why most women pick the bear.

      • Kedly@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        I mean yeah, that was my point. Currently though our messaging is insanely antagonistic and there are a LOT of men without women in their lives who can explain this to them. People dont listen to those antagonizing them, the throw their shields/walls up, and seek those who are friendlier to them, which, in this case would be the manpsphere, posts like this only preach to the choir, and push away the men who need to know why women would choose the bear the most.

        • HauntedCupcake@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          It’s even worse, a lot of the posts here are outright refusing to explain anything, or branding them as the problem for not understanding immediately.

          It’s so insanely bad it almost feels like an incel psyop at times

        • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          These young men can … listen to women??? They don’t need to be spoon fed feminism by friends, there is a ton of information available if they care to learn. The fact that they choose to listen to sexist assholes rather than have their feelings hurt for two seconds is part of the problem dumbass

  • dragnet@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    Downvoted not because it isn’t true, but because they aren’t automatically mutually exclusive and because it is an unnecessary jab at half of the human species. Why are we paying attention to divisive bullshit instead of focusing on things that actually have the potential to help?

    • NickwithaC@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Because the solution to women getting assaulted is to make men think about their actions. The post wasn’t anymore divisive than the average black twitter meme. It was a simple tongue in cheek piece about how women have the impossible task of figuring out if a man is going to be their life partner or their rapist & murderer.

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        to make men think about their actions

        Do you not understand that, as a very straight man, I’ve never once even thought about hurting a woman?

        It’s absolutely divisive. Stop.

        • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          I’ve never once even thought about hurting a woman?

          then you’d know it’s not about you. I don’t think women want to potentially be mauled to death by the bear, it’s simply preferable to the horrible shit men do to women with astonishing regularity. kidnapped and raped to death, or kidnapped and raped for decades.

          do you need links, to show how unfortunately regular this kind of thing is? because they’ll turn your fucking stomach. just because you’re ignorant about how often it happens doesn’t mean you should take it personally when women make a logical choice. they’re safer with the bear. You’ve never thought about hurting a woman, that’s great, but it doesn’t do shit for the women who have had this shit done to them by men for the history of the species.

          It’s absolutely divisive. Stop.

          oooOoh poor boy, it hurts your feelings huh? get over yourself.

          • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            Ah yes, let me open myself up to physical violence because I’m a man and that’s my place in the world.

            Shut the fuck up

              • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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                9 months ago

                Are you aware that, as a man, I still have the right to protect myself?

                God, go fuck yourself you troglodyte.

      • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.com
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        10 months ago

        “Hey, would you rather be alone with a bear or a man?”
        “A bear. And you should think about what you’ve done.” "… Huh? "

  • db2@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    How many female teachers have been caught fucking their barely pubescent students this year alone so far?

    It isn’t a men-women problem. People just suck.

    • Woozythebear@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Do we need to start throwing out the stats for how many rapist are men compared to women?

      Spoiler alert, most rapist are men and it’s not even close.

      • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Do we need to start throwing out the stats for how many rapist are men compared to women?

        Sure, just as long as you define rape in such a way that female-on-male rape actually counts as rape, which it doesn’t in the vast majority of “rape statistics” that get put out. Quote http://time.com/3393442/cdc-rape-numbers :

        And now the real surprise: when asked about experiences in the last 12 months, men reported being “made to penetrate”—either by physical force or due to intoxication—at virtually the same rates as women reported rape (both 1.1 percent in 2010, and 1.7 and 1.6 respectively in 2011). In other words, if being made to penetrate someone was counted as rape—and why shouldn’t it be?—then the headlines could have focused on a truly sensational CDC finding: that women rape men as often as men rape women.

        • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Highly unreported numbers for male rapists too, especially since most male victims were raped by men.

          • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 months ago

            but those are likely to be repeat offenders, so i’m not actually sure that how that would effect it.

            The raw number of rapes will go up, but rapists will probably rise quite a bit less.

            Statistics is hard >:(

    • Klear@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Would you rather be in the wood with a bear rather than a woman because you fear she could rape you? No? Then what the fuck are you even talking about?

  • gimpchrist @lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m a woman and the same way that women feel about men in this whole meme thing, is the exact same way I feel about women…

    I don’t trust women within a hairs inch of my life and I would rather be with a bear than a Woman but I bet you I’ll get super downvoted for this opinion.

    • Rolder@reddthat.com
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      10 months ago

      I feel like with men it’s usually more physical and with women it’s more social/mental. And physical is way easier to document and make stats out of

      • naught@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        What are we comparing here? Cyberbullying to r*pe? Social exclusion to being thrown down the stairs? Not sure if you’re attempting to draw equivalences or minimize physical harm but that is how I read this

        • gimpchrist @lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Straight up… it seems like when I tell people that I’m scared of women they want to quantify it or somehow tell me I’m wrong for having the opinion I do it’s fucking hilarious… the same women who would shit on a man for being a man are the same women who couldn’t possibly believe that women are the problem for some folk.

          • naught@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            I haven’t said anything to you. I’m not telling anyone they’re wrong. It seems to me the bear discussion revolves around the fact that many if not most women are distrustful of men because of violence, misogyny, etc. Your subjective experience doesn’t change that, but neither is it invalid.

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      10 months ago

      My wife shares the same opinion. It’s not something she can discuss in her social circles, but she feels like she’s been backstabbed in more awful ways by her fellow women.

      When she gets in that pattern, I try to remind her that people tend to suck and you have to be choosy regardless of gender.

      • thesporkeffect@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I hear you, but as a dude, I feel like there’s significantly more risk of bodily harm from men than than women. This doesn’t mean women are Nice, just less likely to try to rape or murder someone in an alley :(

        • gimpchrist @lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You’re right… a woman would take you home first before she fucking drugged your tea or whatever the Hell she’s going to do to you. Just because women have less muscles don’t mean they’re not just as psychopathic as any dude murderer. The long-term damage that women can cause on the mind and body is fucking creepy and terrifying. Even creepier and more terrifying when you realize how many women utilize manipulative psychopathic actions in regular day-to-day life. Women are total horror shows for me. Unknowable, unsafe, unreliable, unstable. Terrifying.

    • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      I’ve never been downvoted anywhere for expressing that opinion. Lemmy especially there’s a huge disparity where saying you’d rather be with a bear than a man is unacceptable, but saying you’d rather be with a bear than a woman? A-okay. Source? I’ve said both. Only one was I not attacked for. Guess which?
      Seriously, I’ve expressed my trauma regarding men countless times and every time been attacked for it. I’ve expressed my trauma at the hands of women and not a single downvote or attack or disparaging remark any time. Lemmy has a very clear bias.
      I wouldn’t have a single problem with men getting upset about this bear thing if they got equally upset when somebody says something similar or worse about women, but they don’t.

  • gmtom@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m a woman (a trans one if that matters to you) and have experienced sexual assault and domestic violence from both men and women.

    I know the point that people are trying to make with the whole bear thing.

    But I think the friction comes from women talk about this as a theoretical to make a point, where men are thinking more literally.

    And I do belive that no one in there right mind, if actually given this option in real life, would pick a bear (unless maybe it was definitely one of the more harmless species).

    Each and every one of us, even those of us that have survived SA, have had countless uneventful interactions with men you don’t know. Even when it’s just one on one. And its mostly normal biases that makes us remember the shitty ones more. And something a lot of people forget is that the vast majority of SA victims already know their assailant, so the idea of a rando assaulting you is even less likely. So yes I would much rather be in the woods with a man, than a wild fucking animal. And if you’re a reasonable person, then you would too.

    • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      As a trans woman who has also been sexually assaulted, it has more to do for me with what danger is more real to me. I’ve experienced zero bear attacks. Nobody I know has experienced a bear attack. Why would I fear one? Of course, consciously yeah, I know a bear is dangerous, but I have no real world experience to back that assumption up.
      Men though? Yeah, I’ve been sexually assaulted by men. I’ve been physically assaulted by men. I’ve had family and friends who’ve been physically and sexually assaulted by men. That danger is real to me. I know that if a man I don’t know is nearby me he could do those things to me, and I have the real world experience to prove that assumption correct (the assumption that they could, not the assumption that they would.)
      Therefore, of course I’m more scared of the man than the bear. And of course I’d choose the bear over the man. I don’t care if it’s the wrong choice, I’ll take my chances to not have to relive that trauma, even if it means risking my life. Not like I’ll have time to regret that decision if the bear decides to kill me. Probably. And most women I know when asked expressed the same sentiment in different words. We’re more scared of men than bears, but that doesn’t mean we literally think men are more dangerous than bears.
      Is it the logical choice to pick the bear? Probably not, but humans are not logical creatures. I’d rather make the wrong choice than the scary choice.

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I’ve never been shot or held at gunpoint, but I have have the shit kicked out of me. But still if given the option to face a person with a gun and a person with the bare hands. I don’t think I’m going to pick the the guy with a gun.

        • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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          10 months ago

          There’s a serious difference in the level of trauma between these examples, and the level of exposure to the dangers of the counter. Sexual trauma is a hell of a lot more scarring on your psyche than simply being beaten. In addition, at least in the US we’re exposed to gun violence every day as opposed to basically never for bear attacks. Even in other countries with better gun control, you’re dramatically more likely to hear about somebody being shot than you are to hear about somebody being mauled by a bear. Not only that, but it’s really easy to process “get shot, you’re dead.” It’s not as easy to make yourself believe you’re definitely gonna be killed by an animal that has whole guides written on how to survive them.
          Those two things combined make your example far from comparable. In addition, I’m not saying in any way that the fear is justified nor that no attempt should be made to fix it, what I’m trying to point out us that people don’t realize how intense a fear it really is when they get offended at people making this choice.

          Obviously, therapy is important to learning how to handle that fear and think more logically, but if every woman who needs it sought therapy for this, there just aren’t enough therapists in the entire world to handle the load. Not even close. So a bigger part of the solution is, y’know, making sure women aren’t getting traumatized in the first place. But everybody here wants to skip that part for some reason.

          • gmtom@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Sexual trauma is a hell of a lot more scarring on your psyche than simply being beaten.

            Very hard disagree.

            • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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              10 months ago

              You’re free to disagree, but for me and many others, I’ve been through both, and I’m definitely waaaay more scared of being sexually assaulted again than being beaten half to death again. They have very different effects on your psyche. Physical violence I react far more with anger than fear, even if I was terrified in the moment. When it looks like it’s happening again, my brain says “Fight back.” When I’m afraid of sexual trauma being relived, my brain says “Escape, now. Can’t escape? Submit. Maybe that way they won’t kill you too at least.”

              • liuther9@feddit.nl
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                10 months ago

                How about you Google the man who’s face was eaten by bear and then decide

                • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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                  10 months ago

                  How about you miss the entire point and get aggressive for no reason?
                  Seriously, what kind of response to “I’ve been traumatized by men” is “you should traumatized by bears too?”

      • Azzu@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        I’d rather make the wrong choice than the scary choice.

        Unrelated to the topic, but this mindset is exactly why far-right movements are getting so strong right now.

        • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
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          10 months ago

          I agree. I never said it was a good mindset. Therapy is definitely something we need to learn to deal with this and think logically. The issue is so absurdly many women have been traumatized by men that the mental health support systems would be so overloaded that it’s just a fact that only a miniscule fraction of women would ever be able to receive help, even if we had absolutely perfect support systems.

          So the only solution is to prevent them from getting traumatized in the first place. But the entirety of Lemmy seems really resistant to that conversation. Would rather quote statistics about “oh the average man isn’t likely to assault you” than to accept that the ones who do are dealing enough damage that the problem needs to be dealt with regardless of what the average man is doing.

    • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Honestly I think it depends more on the guy than the bear. Any time you’re alone in the woods (at least in the US) it’s safe to assume you’re with a bear, that’s where they live. Most bears keep to themselves though.

      People tend to be less low-key, and less predictable. To me it seems more likely that a random guy could follow you around, take your stuff, or generally make life more difficult. There’s also a higher chance for a guy to assist you and make things easier, but I can understand how the potential risk could outweigh the potential benefits.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Nono you’re not allowed to judge the man individually. You’re required to judge before you see both the man and bear so that we get a properly over-essentialised judgement how else are we going to propagate in- / out-group divisions.

    • Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      Most bears would just walk away from you when you make a loud noise. Men would approach you. So even I as a man, would pick a bear

  • Crampon@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This whole thing is bait.

    Anyone engaging on any side of the debate are fools. Any topic antagonizing half the population will somehow stir up some noise.

    It’s like saying all women are bad at sport because they don’t train hard enough. It’s ignorant and serves only the purpose of creating a divide in the population.

    Stop engaging in the divide.

  • ClamDrinker@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The thing is, I’ve seen statements like this before. Except when I heard it, it was being used to justify ignoring women’s experiences and feelings in regard to things like sexual harassment and feeling unsafe, since that’s “just a feeling” as well. It wasn’t okay then, and it’s not okay the other way around. The truth is that feelings do matter, on both sides. Everyone should feel safe and welcome in their surroundings. And how much so that is, is reflected in how those people feel.

    The outcome of men feeling being respected and women feeling safe are not mutually exclusive. The sad part is that someone who is reading this here is far more likely to be an ally than a foe, yet the people who need to hear the intended message the most will most likely never hear it nor be bothered by it. There’s a stick being wedged here that is only meant to divide, and oh my god is it working.

    The original post about bears has completely lost all meaning and any semblance of discussion is lost because the metaphor is inflammatory by design - sometimes that’s a good thing, to highlight through absurdity. But metaphors are fragile - if it’s very likely to be misunderstood or offensive, the message is lost in emotion. Personally I think this metaphor is just highly ineffective at getting the message across, as it has driven people who would stand by the original message to the other side due to the many uncharitable interpretations it presents. And among the crowd of reasonable people are those who confirm those interpretations and muddy the water to make women seem like misandrists, and men like sexual assault deniers. This meme is simply terrible and perhaps we can move on to a better version of it that actually gets the message across well, instead of getting people at each other’s throat.

    • ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website
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      10 months ago

      Honestly I am so goddamn tired of this shit, everytime something like the bear question comes up it blatantly tilted in one side or the others favor and dissent is crushed in both sets of spaces and no one learns anything.

    • Nat (she/they)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 months ago

      You’re right, feelings do matter, and this post did not dispute that. It’s just that safety matters more.

      It saddens me that the default interpretation of this is accusatory and requiring of defense. Not to personally blame you, this is very common and clearly a systemic reaction, but I don’t know enough psychology/politics/sociology to understand why, just enough to know it’s bad.

      • derf82@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It saddens me that the default interpretation of this is accusatory

        It’s saying men are inherently unsafe to be around. How is that not accusatory?

        This isn’t about women’s safety versus men’s feelings, it’s about women’s feelings (of safety) versus men’s feelings (of respect).

        • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          9 months ago

          But it doesn’t say you personally are unsafe, it says that the odds that a man chosen at random is unsafe is high enough that women - understandably - fear being left alone with a random stranger to a level at least comparable with being left alone with a bear.

          An enormous number of men fail to understand just how common and how terrifying it is for women to be harassed, assaulted and raped by men. And that is exactly what the bear/man hyperbole is pointing out.

          And the reason people with takes like yours get chewed out for it is because you could do some reflection and consider

          what is this systemic issue, what behaviours might make women around me scared, what can we as a society do to change this, and what can I do to avoid women around me fearing I may be unsafe?

          But instead, they take it as a personal attack, and so respond

          why am I being attacked for someone else’s behaviour?

          Edit: here’s another example in a similar format to demonstrate how the meme is being misinterpreted, note how your first response wouldn’t be “why are you accusing all priests?!”

          “Who would you rather babysit your child, a bear or a Catholic priest?”

          • derf82@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            It’s what it says to me and many of us. Perhaps it’s the messaging.

            What do you mean what behaviors? I don’t harass women. I barely talk to people I don’t know. But yet people are still scared of me.

            And I would 100% pick a catholic priest. What a dumb choice. And, yeah, you are accusing everyone.

            • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              9 months ago

              I clearly said: it’s not targeted at you specifically, but at that fact that women are disproportionately more likely to be harassed or assaulted, and when that happens, the aggressor is almost exclusively men.

              They’re not scared of you because you’re personally scary, they’re scared of you because there’s an ingrained culture of sexual harassment of women by men. So when you say “that’s a nice dress” to a woman you don’t know, she’s not thinking “aww cute”, she’s thinking “is this guy being nice, or will they threaten me if I turn them down?”

              Seriously, ask literally any woman you know if they’ve ever been sexually harassed, and the answer is almost guaranteed to be yes.

              I would 100% pick a Catholic priest

              Yes, I know that, that’s how hyperbole works. My point is that such a statement shouldn’t be interpreted as “every priest is a child molester” but as “there’s a concerningly high rate of them, and they’re probably not a good option for childcare.”

              You are accusing everyone

              When did I say “all men are <whatever you’re saying I’m accusing all men of>?” Stop making this about you, and actually try to understand why interactions with men can be terrifying for women.

      • Kedly@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Because thereal’s version is welcoming and non discriminatory, and the meme is antagonistic by design

        • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Yes, it is antagonistic. But is it bad to be antagonistic to people who think that men’s feelings are more important that women’s safety?

          • Kedly@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Yeah, ok, with this response and your other one, I’m blocking you now

    • Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      This is specifically about the bear meme though. Way too many men feel personally attacked by women not feeling safe around men they don’t know. Instead of thinking about why that is the men cry and attack the women.