Thread: Can a man hit a woman?

This is a topic over which I've gotten into arguments with people multiple times. Do you think it is ever, at any point, appropriate for a man to hit a woman. And with hit I'm not talking about abuse or what have you. Here I'm really asking, do you think it is ever appropriate for a man, if hit by a female, to reciprocate the blow. I'll withhold my opinion for the time being as to not influence the flow of discussion. But it's really something I'm interested in hearing about from both sides.

Do you ever think it is okay for a guy to hit a girl?

I'm not really for any sort of violence at all, so you shouldn't hit anybody. :P But for the sake of argument, it depends on the individual. (This is in the case of "WELL THEY HIT ME FIRST SO I WANT TO HIT THEM BACK!") If you have an athletic guy, and a non-athletic female who's half his size, no I don't think he should hit her. If we have an athletic guy and a non-athletic guy, I still don't think he should hit him. It's all about whether or not they can handle getting hit. (This is professionally) A female boxer is trained in fighting and taking hits. If a man and a woman box, or fight athletically, there's no reason he should say, "I can't hit her, she's a girl!" because that's saying the woman who is specifically trained to kick ass is weak. But she shouldn't be going around picking fights anymore than a man should. In the end, I still say we shouldn't have to strike anyone in the first place.

Like Jo, I really don't agree with violence at all, but I think that's where our agreement ends. I would say that if you are personally initiating unnecessary physical conflict yourself (as in, escalating the situation yourself rather than acting in defence alone) I think you surrender all right to play the victim/weaker party card, regardless of gender or being trained or not. I'd like to say that people should learn to be the bigger person and not hit back when they know someone is weaker, but frankly, aside from in certain situations I think if you're willing to throw a punch you should be willing to take one.

absolutely not, UNLESS that said woman hold a significant threat on your life like for instance if she's trying to harm you with a weapon (knife,gun,etc) then yes as an act of defense i would not object. but other than self dense i do not condone any sort of violence against a female. Some men beat women like thier spouses or girlfriend to show their superiority (which only shows their insecurity and weakness if they resort to harming a woman). that's my two cents.

I dont believe in violence against anyone be it man or woman, unless in self defense, in such case the person is threatening severe harm to you, so you must defend yourself some way, but other than that, no, I dont believe hitting anyone is acceptable.

I once knew a feminist girl who kept telling people she wanted to be treated like a man is treated. Then she got extremely angry when, after punching a guy in the stomach out of annoyance, he hit her back. Said it was gender abuse, even though she always reminded everybody how she wanted to be treated. Then again, that might just be an extreme example...


Normally though? If I'm with friends and we're messing around and a girl hits me, of course I'll hit her back if that's how we are. But none of it's violent. When I hit her back I'm obviously not punching her in the jaw.

Self-defense? Yes. If a woman goes batshit crazy on you and starts hitting and kicking you and whatnot, do what you need to do to subdue her/make her stop.

Retaliatory violence? No.

Note: My feelings are the same if it is the woman on the receiving end. That isn't to say that a woman or man should put up with an abusive partner or friend, but I think ending the relationship is better (and take precautions when doing it).

If you are attacked, you have the right to defend yourself.

I boxed for years and still do some sparring from time to time. In general, I avoid being hit as much as I possibly can. I'd rather run than fight any day. That being said, I have no problem hitting a woman my size if given sufficient provocation. I obviously don't endorse the Sean Connery "if she won't stop talking back, it's ok to hit her open handed" method, but if a woman is going to attempt to hurt me or someone I care about, I will do my best to restrain her. Failing that, I'm fine hitting someone if it means stopping them from hurting more people.

Originally Posted by Jack Pschitt

If you are attacked, you have the right to defend yourself.

Basically this. It applies to all humans. If a woman should attack a man, then he has the right to defend himself

if you are under attack by the other then yes regaurdles of gender. i dont advocate for violence but there are unfortunaltly situations that would possibly require it such as self defence.

I do not support ANY violence twords any gender to show "superiority" or "cause my wife/husband spoke back to me". THose are By allmeans NO exeption to use violent forces in my thoughts.

While it's not right to hit anyone anytime unless of course it's a sport the way I see it...you hit me I hit you. I hate it when I guys says or I won't hit you because you're a girl. Because to me that just says no you won't hit me because you're a pussy. At the gym I went to I was part of an MMA group and as usual I was the ONLY girl in class. Mind you I'm only 5 feet 135 pounds...I am NOT that big. This one guy who was like twice my size said I'm not going to spare her she's a girl. I walked over and slugged him in the chest because that's as high as I could reach on him and looked right up at him and said "You gonna hit me now?" and he did. I didn't care and it doesn't bother me it's what I was there for. Not to stand around and worry about breaking a nail or worry about getting hit.

If he was attacked, heck yes. To be brutally honest, I REALLY hate how people advocated for "men shouldn't hit women!11!" and whatever but don't address women hitting men. To be also honest, I've seen cases where a woman has attacked a man but they man gets shamed because he hit the woman. I would say something on this and the response I get is "it doesn't matter, you don't put your hands on a woman." Bullshit. No one should put their hands on *anyone*, but they don't advocate for that, do they?

I can't find it but there was a political ad featuring Biden and other politicians and they were making an ad against domestic violence. I'm all for that. Problem is, they defined stopping domestic violence as "don't put your hands on a woman" throughout the whole announcement. Yes, I am upset but it's pretty messed up.

If it is in self defense or in some sort of sporting event sparing i.e. boxing or karate then yes. And when I say in self defense I mean more than just being slapped I mean she is providing a real threat.

Honestly, I think the only incidents where I think a man could hit a woman was in real self defense (like, she came at him with a knife and pepper spray/beating him). I also think recreational sports like Karate and Wrestling is also fine.

Other than that, I don't see the point in guys hitting girls, and vice versa.