It's not about being afraid of strangers or "what are you most afraid of: a dragon bear demon or a man?" It's about the real concern that women have and stated about the intentions of a man and potential long-duration of suffering that he could inflict, possibly out of pure pleasure. Women just don't know what the man is up to or planning, could just be walking around thinking about how much the Naruto movie sucked and what he should get for dinner later or he could be walking around planning some cruel shit—the ambiguity itself could be terrifying. But a bear is just out there being a bear so there's at least some clear understanding there, and if the bear attacks then it's far more likely motivated by some defensive instinct or calculation—not pure cruelty or misogyny.

A bear never calculatingly chained a woman up in its house and tortured and raped her for years just for fun.