Here's a short video for you, it's a compilation of women on a bus just existing in a public space: https://www.tiktok.com/@specere/video/7472932570162924831

Yes, not every man on those busses is being creepy. But if there's one on every bus that is what women are going to remember. Now imagine a woman who takes the bus regularly dealing with this every day, then being asked if she'd rather encounter a random bear in the woods or a random man in the woods.
She's encountered random men in public spaces and this is what has happened. No wonder she doesn't want to encounter them in the woods.