Man or Bear

I have been backcountry camping in the Rockies. I have camped along the shores of Lake Ontario and in the rural Muskokas. I camp without cell service or readily accessible grocery stores, and I do so with very little fear because I know how to bear-proof my campsites. I know how to deter any varmint, and (now that I know porcupines eat sandals) I remember to put all hiking shoes and sandals inside a tent or car because apparently human sweat is a tasty treat.

In the woods, all food is stored in locked cars and trash is removed to bear-proof garbage cans far from the campsite. There are usually lots of other campers nearby, and so they too act as a deterrent. I ensure that all fires are completely out and that whatever food was in them has turned to ash, that flashlights have new batteries, and I bring a storm whistle just in case I need to scare something away. Plus, now that I am a mother, I camp in much more popular campgrounds because I like the security of a potential helping hand if, somehow, I miss a critter-proofing step.

I know how to bear-proof my camp-sites. I suppose that I even know how to bear-proof my home, if it comes down to it. What I do not know how to do is man-proof.

At home, I close the windows that open the most easily and lock them nightly. I close the others so that there is just a narrow gap allowing a breeze. I lock my doors and chain them each night. I also do it if I am working in the back of the house and unlikely to easily hear if someone does break in. I have a dog, and while I suppose she might scare off some less intrepid intruders, anyone who has met her can attest that she is anything but a guard-dog.

I follow all the standard protocols for a single mother living alone, but I know daily that if someone (statistics would suggest the likelihood of it being a man) wanted to actually cause me harm, he could. There is no man-proofing that is fully secure.

Sandra Bullock’s stalker broke into her home with a loaded gun in 2014. Jennifer Lopez’s stalker broke into the guest house on her property, and apparently stayed there for weeks without anyone noticing. Taylor Swift has received death threats in letters, and this year a man was arrested outside of her New York home trying to break in. There are more. I cannot name the number of celebrity women who have found unknown and unwanted men in their homes, and they have budgets for security that far exceed my humble means.

The reality is that this world is still a predator’s world. It is a world of old men ogling young women (nay, girls) and justifying it by saying that they are just looking; it’s a world of men seeing my smiling, cherubic toddler and telling me that I’ll be in trouble one day; it’s a world where men label themselves as good or bad for how well they control their urges, but where no one questions the fact that they have these urges.

It is a world where a convicted sex offender is running AGAIN for president of the United States.

I will always choose the bear.

Peace

-H