I hav always know its wrong, but other than a physicality/strength discrepancy, why else should a man not hit a woman if it comes to that?

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• Dude! Rephrase the question then. Some of us have very clearly given reasons not associated with the strength discrepancy you describe, and certainly not in a knee-jerk fashion. I definitely see some answers up there that are far from cliche.

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  by WillowWand91 on August 7th, 2010

• The answer is simple- humans are humans.
  In the old days we had "chivalry".
  A man would pull a chair out for a woman, and open doors for her.
  Now, we have equality.
  People are people, period.
  Abandon the old sexist notions.

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  by Magenta on August 7th, 2010

• Okay, great, and I will do that as soon as my husband (or partner as the case may be for others) has to carry my babies for 9 months and put up with the complications of labor and pregnancy.

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  by WillowWand91 on August 7th, 2010

• As I said- people are people.
  
  If a man has a swollen abdomen, cramps, a back ache, and is walking like a duck, I would hope you would open the door for him.
  
  The fact that some women are pregnant for some times in their lives does not warrant inequality over any issue that has nothing to do with childbirth or pregnancy.

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  by Magenta on August 8th, 2010

• I definitely agree with you that people should not hit each other regardless of gender.
  
  However, I do firmly believe that people (both men and women) should especially not hit women. And yes, it does have to do with childbirth and pregnancy.
  
  1. The effects of pregnancy are not limited to that third trimester when a woman is obviously huge. Throughout pregnancy the physical output from woman to unborn child is incredibly draining of energy and nutrients, and can result in bone loss or other damage that may or may not fully heal. For those of us who experience morning sickness, the first and even second trimesters can be nigh unto hell on earth.
  
  2. There are long-term effects of bearing a child. These may include internal weakening or damage invisible to even the mother until years after birth.
  
  3. Childbirth is mentally and emotionally exhausting. I should know, I've had 5. 1 epidural, 2 natural, and 2 by cesarean. It doesn't matter which way you choose, there are serious mental and emotional consequences, though it is a bit different for each method. If a woman goes into this process having been hit by a man in the past, especially by the father of the child, labor is incredibly difficult. If she still has not dealt with the emotional issues that result, she can find herself fighting the birth of the child and whether it actually is more painful or not there is more perception of pain and less of a desire to do what is needed to bear the child. This can occur even if she was not hit during the pregnancy.
  
  4. Regardless of your decisions regarding child-rearing, daycare, etc., for at least the first few weeks, the woman is the primary caretaker for the child. Even when you have a wonderful husband like mine who takes over night feedings so you can sleep (and not all men have jobs that allow them this luxury), it is sometimes difficult to keep up with the demands of an infant. Again, it is even more difficult if the mother has the emotional baggage of being hit. Even if the woman goes back to work and has others caring for her child, the psychological damage caused by being hit will often carry over into the small amount of time she has with her children, and those early years make a huge difference in the values and behavior of children as they grow up. Yes, this is true of fathers too, but the emotional bond formed by childbirth is much stronger in those early years. It often takes a little while for a man to fully bond with his child, if he does bond in as deep a fashion as the mother does. Not all men do bond like this.
  
  Men and women deserve equal respect, equal rights, and equal consideration, as to who they are as individuals. Because women and men are physiologically very different, giving equal respect, rights, and consideration means understanding that certain behaviors, such as hitting, need to be thought of in terms of the difference in consequences of those behaviors.
  
  I don't care who you are, hitting is wrong, but it is even more wrong to hit a woman because the consequences will carry forward into her children should she have them. Claiming that not all women will or can have children is just an excuse to not look at the real long-term effects. Men do not go through pregnancy and childbirth and all of the hormonal effects that has on the brain and emotions. Men do not send their chemical signals of distress to their unborn children. Men, even stay-at-home-dads, do not have those first critical weeks where the bonding needs to occur that affects the earliest development of a child.

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  by WillowWand91 on August 8th, 2010

• You are making a false dichotomy.
  
  First- as you said, no one should hit anyone.
  Then, logically, one should only hit another person in self-defense- when there is no other choice.
  
  So, are you saying that even when there is no other choice, a man should not hit a woman?
  Where, exactly, is this imaginary line in the sand?
  
  Here are some scenarios:
  
  A middle aged, out of shape man is being mugged and beaten by a muscular amazon of a woman.
  Are you saying he should not defend himself because she just might have a child someday?
  
  A young man picks up a woman in a bar, they go back to his place, she knocks him out and proceeds to start robing the place. He wakes up while she is still there, he should not try and stop her?
  
  A large strong man with military training is walking down an alley, and he sees one woman with a gun pointed at another woman- obviously mugging her. The criminal's back is to him- he could easily knock her down and disarm her.
  
  Are you saying he should not?

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  by Magenta on August 8th, 2010

• Self-defense, as I said, is a different issue.
  
  In all your scenarios, force may be required, but it should be as minimal as possible.
  
  I also said that men and women deserve equal respect, equal rights, and equal consideration, as to who they are as individuals. An individual who is behaving in the ways you describe obviously would earn less respect.
  
  In scenario 1, if possible, the man should try to get away first, and only then defend himself.
  
  In scenario 2, the man should try to restrain or otherwise prevent the woman from leaving by other means first, before resorting to hitting.
  
  In scenario 3, first of all, I don't believe that many men would do much. (My own baggage, I know.) Second, again, minimal force required.
  
  Just as a point, if you replace the man in each of those scenarios with a woman, I would still give the same answers.

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  by WillowWand91 on August 8th, 2010

• That's exactly my point.
  
  Self-defense is not a different issue, it's the only issue.
  For any other situation, no violence should occur at all.
  
  As you said- if you replace the men in the scenarios with a woman, it's the same answers.
  How about if you replace the women with men- making them all-male scenarios?
  
  Like I said, it's a false dichotomy, since in any real-world situation people SHOULD be treated equally.

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  by Magenta on August 9th, 2010

• yeah but if i go back to a chicks place knock her out and proceed to rob the place she will wake up and pull a gun or knife on me and have absolutly no qualms about it ethier
  
  there is n equality

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  by Swan7 on August 23rd, 2010