# Could you ever strike a woman or a child? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 1, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270 "2010-01-01T06:24:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/21 "2010-01-01T21:26:38Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I do it all the time. Especially on Tuesday evenings from 7:45 to 8:30 or so. Bowling? I’d also hit Karen Brewer from the Babysitters Club books. Or the Olsen Twins on Full House. Or off. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/22 "2010-01-01T21:34:40Z")
I got mugged once in Italy by an old woman with two kids. They cornered me on some stairs, and the woman and girl were pulling at my arms while the boy tried to take my wallet. I struggled politely, but when that didn’t work, I swung my arm in a wide arc, hard enough to hit all three of them in the face. I’d do it again, if I had to. But that was the only time I’ve ever hit anybody for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/23 "2010-01-01T21:37:42Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I do it all the time. Especially on Tuesday evenings from 7:45 to 8:30 or so. > [@needscoffee](#): > > ??? **Hump** y is a martial arts instructor. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/24 "2010-01-01T22:23:19Z")
only if the diswasher malfunctions ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/25 "2010-01-01T22:31:51Z")
About seventeen years ago, I spanked one of my first cousins once removed. He must have been about six years old. He and two of my nieces–one his age, the other less than a year old–were at my parents’ house with their mothers (two of my sisters and his mother, my first cousin). I was in the kitchen, as were the kids, and he was rough-housing despite repeated warnings from me not to. He knocked over a chair and came within inches of crushing the baby. I grabbed her, made her she was okay, then grabbed him and spanked him on the spot. Afterwards I picked him up, carried him to his mother, and dumped him in her lap. The six-year-old niece, seeing him crying and learning I was responsible, was astonished. “Oh my god, what did you DO?” she exclaimed. “Uncle Skald will let you get away with MURDER most of the time!” I wouldn’t hit a woman unless she were attacking me with a weapon that could kill or grieviously wound me. I’m not that guy anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/26 "2010-01-01T22:32:12Z")
If any female ever needed a punch it was the psycho girl from **The Crush**. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBiTfI9heFQ) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/27 "2010-01-02T01:47:47Z")
I hit a child, maybe 12 or so, and hurt him very badly back in the late 80’s. He tried to pick my pocket on the street, and when I caught him he tried to hit me in the head with a bottle. I grabbed his neck and rammed his face into a light pole. Broke his nose, broke some teeth. I don’t feel particularly bad about it, but I think in retrospect that I could have controlled him without doing so much damage. In an earlier incident I was mugged by a gang of kids about the same age, and one of them cut me in the face with a knife. It’s not about age or sex, it’s about what they are doing. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/28 "2010-01-02T01:49:42Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > If any female ever needed a punch it was the psycho girl from **The Crush**. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBiTfI9heFQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBiTfI9heFQ) ANYONE who could get so hot for Cary Elwes should be punched like that, and often. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/29 "2010-01-02T02:45:16Z")
You mean other than Snooki? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/30 "2010-01-02T06:05:55Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > If any female ever needed a punch it was the psycho girl from **The Crush**. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBiTfI9heFQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBiTfI9heFQ) I’ll see your Crush and raise you one [Wicker Man](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wuIKFR3txU&feature=related). Keep your pimp-hand strong, brothas! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/31 "2010-01-02T07:16:29Z")
I have spanked my children. They have outgrown the need. I have used various levels of force on women but never had to strike one. I would if needed. ---
**Author:** ![Godinama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@Godinama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godinama)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/32 "2010-01-02T08:48:21Z")
If that sewer bitch from _The Ring_ ever came at me I’d roundhouse kick her ass into bizarro world. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/33 "2010-01-02T09:47:30Z")
> [@Chimi](#): > > My go-to answer is that I would hit a female in exactly the same circumstances that I would hit a male of the same general sturdiness, strength, and threat to myself. Of course, it’s been longer than I can remember since I’ve needed to hit anyone in self-defense or the like, of either gender, so that’s more of a philosophy than practice. Pretty much this. Of course, I’ve never hit _anyone_ before (some sparring with my brothers aside) and think it unlikely I’ll ever be in a situation that calls for it. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/34 "2010-01-02T15:15:54Z")
In the right circumstances of course I could. Everyone has the right to defend themselves, their family and property to a reasonable level. If force is necessary to prevent someone from harming my person, or that of my family, then I will use whatever is necessary to terminate that threat. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/35 "2010-01-03T19:41:25Z")
In the same limited set of circumstances in which I’d hit a man, yes. Being pacifist it’s unlilkely to come up. I’ve taken a kicking in the pasy without fighting back. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270/36 "2010-01-03T20:34:25Z")
Context matters, of course. I’d hit anyone at all in self-defense. The level of force would be proportional to the level of threat. Technically I _have_ hit a child in self-defense, as I was mugged by a 16-year-old girl. She weighed more than I did, so I didn’t pull any punches, either. But I kept my purse and my phone, got her phone too (she dropped it… and then ran right out of her shoes). And she was in handcuffs 10 minutes later. Threat-level (partially measured in terms of how big and/or strong the other person is, partially measured in how aggressively they’re behaving) is more important to my assessment than the sex of the assailant is. Actually, the sex and age of my mugger probably contributed to my decision to fight back; had it been a 6’2" fully adult man, I may very well have believed that fighting back would just get me killed. Also, I’m game for consensual, adults-only impact play, within reasonable limits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-ever-strike-a-woman-or-a-child/523270.md?page=1)