I’d like to hear from both perspectives on this one, not only males.
In most societies, a man hitting woman is just not acceptable. There are good reasons for this, but at the same time, how far should this rule of etiquette go?
Is there any situation in which hitting a male hitting woman would not be *that *bad?
Likewise for a woman hitting a man, a woman hitting another woman, or a man hitting a man. (And, yes, I’m aware that some consider boxing an acceptable activity.)
One can hit a woman in any situation in which one can hit a man. Short of self defense or to save life or limb, though, I can’t think of any situation in which one can hit a man.
Never. OK, in self-defense. I suppose that if a woman was trying her best to kill me, and stood a good chance of succeeding, I would have a clear pass to punch her in the face a couple of times.
There was a situation, a few years back, when my roommate pushed his girlfriend down.
She was being her usual brat self. As was common on Friday nights, they got into a shouting match. I believe that this was what they called “lovemaking.” And as usual, she threatened to go home.
But this Friday was different. Instead of begging and pleading with her to please stay, baby I can change, let me keep my balls in your purse, my roommate told her to go ahead and leave. She indignantly got out the front door and to the landing, then threw a screaming fit. “How dare you kick me out, you FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!” She tried to force her way back in, and a struggle ensued. He ended up pushing her to the floor.
Well, imagine the violence that she felt. She ran down the stairs and wailed her bloody head off. Neighbors came out to see what evils had been visited on her. It’s amazing that the cops weren’t called.
They should have broken up that night. Instead, about a year later, she moved in. Without my foreknowledge or consent. And her bitchiness escalated. Every single day she screamed her head off if I so much as made a peep.
So yeah, it’s OK to hit a woman. That particular woman. I’ll even lend you some brass knuckles.
I think you guys are misunderstanding the question.
As far as I can tell, the OP wants to know this: Given that it’s unacceptable to hit a woman, if you should see a man hitting a woman, is it ever acceptable to hit that man yourself to make him stop? If so, under what circumstances?
I don’t think this statement is true. Most societies, both historically and worldwide, seem to have tolerated a rather high level of spousal control by the husband, where some violence was acceptable. So, could you define “OK”? It’s never going to be OK with me, but it already is okay with quite a lot of men worldwide.
I don’t see why it makes a difference whether it’s a woman. Either it’s acceptable to hit a person, or it’s not. I’d think not, most of the time.
If the “rule” about hitting women exists to protect women because they are theoretically less able to defend themselves, then the same rule ought logically to extend to prevent men from hitting weaker men.
doesn’t seem to be capable of interpretation other than “Is it OK to hit a man who is himself hitting a woman”. Unless the OP mistakenly added a “hitting” in there.
But I interpreted the OP thread title the same way Chef Troy did. Then I just got confused. It made me want to hit someone. But that wouldn’t be right.