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Text:
Panel 1 Man and woman in office clothes in a break room.
Man: So, if you were alone in a forest, would you rather run into a strange man… or a bear?
Panel 2 Woman: Oh, hmm… I think the bear.
Man (angry): How can you say that?
(Bear looking quizzically through the window)
Panel 3 Man (angry): You're demonizing men! It's misandry!
Panel 4 Woman: Good point. Why would I ever hear men's reactions?
Man: Exactly! …where did the honey go?
Panel 5 Woman and bear sharing tea
Woman: At least if you maul me, pepper won't say I made it up or I'm misinterpreting.
Bear: I hear you
My thing with the man and bear has always come down to motivations. If a bear rapes me, it's because it's horny. If a bear mauls me, it's because it's scared or defending its territory. If a bear eats me, it's because it's hungry. Dominance and cruelty will not come into it. The bear will not keep me alive in its basement.
The other thing is that bears don't lie. You might not understand their language, but they absolutely will not act like they're friendly and safe only to lure you or groom you. If it wants to kill you, it'll just do it without any fucked-up mind games.
I haven't posted here before because I'm never sure how to feel about gendered spaces, but this particular issue is one of those ones where I can't help but identify as a woman. I think it's probably all the trauma. :D
Those are really good points. I particularly like what you said about lying, a bear won't lie, deceive and gaslight people afterwards to discredit you.
God, having recently gone through this, you have no idea how reassuring it is to read stuff like this; it helps reaffirm that it wasn't my fault and that it's relatively common for predators to be good at convincing people of their side.
(Also, she taught me that even women suck. Really fucking cool. Possibly the only time where I've questioned someone's gender due to the fact that being around her started to feel like I was around a wolf in sheep's clothing)
They really are, they work like a magician convincing everyone that up is down and black is white. It's so subtle and effective