Depends on the bear and the woman. If I'm choosing between a gorged, sleepy, elderly bear and my bloodlusted ex with a gun, then definitely the bear. If it's a random 20 year old woman vs. a starving, pissed-off grizzly, gimme the coed.
I don't remember who it was, but some historian once said you could estimate how good and fair a time period is by imagining that you are going to be born at random into it. You don't get to choose your parents, and statistics are the factor - this isn't a monkey's paw wish, it's a random number generator.
In this case, if you pick "bear," you're going to get a random bear from all the bears in the world. If you're a man, you get a random one of the 4 billion(ish) adult women on the planet. Of you're a woman, you get a random man.
It could be a Giant Panda; it could be a Polar Bear. Statistically, probably some sort of black bear; but it's random.
Odds are you're going to get an Asian person: Indian, Chinese, whatever. But you could also get some big, aggressive person magically yanked out of solitary: random.
Would you be more afraid to meet a bear in the forest late at night, or a woman?
If I’m choosing between a gorged, sleepy, elderly bear and my bloodlusted ex with a gun, then definitely the bear.
NGL, it took me a moment to realize you were saying you would rather come across the bear in this situation, not that you would be more afraid of the bear.