Yeah those are possibilities. So is being injured by a bear. So is being eaten alive. So is a meteor striking you. Or a guy knifing you when you walked by. Obviously statistical likelihood shapes the amplitude of fear response. The vast majority of men aren't rapists. And the vast majority of people have no problem passing countless masses of invisible men everyday. And the vast majority of people would run from a bear. Pretending otherwise is just nonsense that doesn't lend your premise any credibility. All this hypothetical situation illustrates is that people are irrational with their fears and lie about them. Either to others or to themselves.

You think someone SAYING they'd choose the bear would actually choose the bear? Really? If someone actually would do that, I wouldn't really care about any opinions they had about anything because it sounds like they lack basic survival instincts.

You say I am downplaying rape? I can easily mirror that argument into well, rape vs being eaten alive... Are you arguing that rape and assault victims would be better off dead? A human is much more likely to help you than hurt you, whereas a bear has a nearly zero likelihood of helping you, with the exception of Wojtek, the greatest of all bears.