As an autist. I've had the opposite experience. The girls in high school weren't my friends, but they were nice and let me stay around for safety. I've been bullied by almost exclusively boys. Physically in person and sneakily behind my back over ye ol twitter too.
The place I work at is almost exclusively men except for the wife of the CEO and one admin. The men there gossip and judge people harshly.
I'd take a bear any day. At least those fuckers back down when intimidated or when you pretend to be dead in some cases. I might kill a man who tried to hurt me just to make sure he would never be able to try again. But that's also not a good ending, even if I somehow manage to beat someone stronger.