Just pointing out that the question was originally posited by a man and it was worded not as being trapped in the woods with a bear or a man but rather, "if you are alone in the woods, would you rather run across a bear or a man?"

The answer is obviously the bear because of the nature of bears and the nature of men. If you're alone in the woods with a bear then you're automatic first assumption is that you're alone in the woods coexisting peacefully with the bear. You leave the bear alone, the bear will leave you alone.

That cannot be your automatic first assumption being alone in the woods and running acrisd a random man you don't know where there are no consequences to keep him in check if he wants what you have.

Regardless, men got up in their feels and bombed the comments. This was mostly about how they perceive rejection but also because men fear bears.

So the OC or someone else went out on the street and started doing street interviews with women. Same phrasing of the question. Overwhelmingly, women said bear, and this was in England (probably London) where the women asked had no practical experience of bears because there aren't any bears in England, outside zoos.

It started going viral from there, with the majority of young(ish) dating age and manosphere types losing their damn minds. It was them that morphed the question. Whether they're just subconsciosly doing so because that's how they think or because they're desperately trying to move the goalposts so they'll be chosen is generally unclear.

That's where we got "trapped" in the woods with a bear.

There's now also trapped in a room with an aggressive/angry bear, trapped in a cage with a lion, stalked in the woods by a bear, held captive in a den with a bear, escaping the woods with a bear after you, running through the woods from a bear or a man, and no telling what else.

But all these shifts in word choice show is one thing. Why the bear always wins. The assumption behind all these shifts is that if you're alone in the woods as a woman, you are up for grabs. By merely existing as a woman, alone, you are fair game.

Bears don't think like that. Men do.

As evidenced by the overwhelming majority of fathers who are also saying they would prefer their very young daughters be alone in the woods with a bear than an unknown man because.....

"there's a possibility the bear might adopt her" but zero assumption that the man will lead her safely home and only that.