I have noticed a particularly offensive commercial on TV today. Guy makes some smart ass comment to his wife/girlfriend and there is this very loud sound of a slap. Now, if it was the other way around and the man slapped the woman, he’d find his butt in jail for domestic violence so fast it would make your head swim. Technically, it is just as much domestic violence for a woman to strike a man, but very few men pick up the phone and call the police. Perhaps it’s a macho thing. The dangerous message that this commercial sends is that it is okay for a woman to strike a man.
Under the law it is not okay for a man to slap a woman back just because she slapped him first. It is not self-defense, and the man is expected to retreat. Otherwise, he will find himself charged with domestic violence. Now, I don’t think anyone should be slapping anyone, but if someone slapped me in the face, I don’t know that I would be able to retreat.
Have you ever been in a complete and total rage? The kind of rage where all reason flees and you just “go for it?” I am a 5’2,” 108 pound woman, but on those few occasions when I have experienced that kind of rage, I’d take on Mike Tyson without hesitation.
Would it surprise you to know that some women are abusers and strike their partner on a regular basis? He is always expected to retreat, and when he doesn’t it is he that is prosecuted not her. This recently happened to a friend of mine, and as much as I wish that he had just turned about and walked out the door, he didn’t, and I can understand why he didn’t. I think there are very few of us that can react calmly and retreat when we are struck in the face.
I have never slapped anyone in the face, nor do I recall anyone ever slapping me in the face. I did throw my cat’s scratching post at my boyfriend once, and he side stepped it and the damn thing went right through my very large window – which cost me more than a few bucks to replace.