punching women

[Proletarian]

A female comrade told me today the fact people find men hitting women terrible insulting, she said a man hitting a woman should be viewed the same as a man hitting another man.
Then again she made her boyfriend let her fuck him with a strapon to "make the power in the relationship even".
But on a serious noite, does she have a point, if men and women are equal, why do we see women as off limits in a fight.

[RedSonRising]

There are physical differences to account for. Whether or not males and females are so different in strength and such because they are encouraged in such ways that create the discrepancy is another debate, but typically the culture views the male as strong and the female as weak, which is reinforced by physical differences, or vice versa. I suppose people view strong males hitting people weaker than them terrible, regardless of gender, and more often than not, regardless of origin of reason, the female in such situations is weaker.

[The Douche]

I don't asses gender, I asses threats. If I'm tangled up with somebody and I start getting hit from behind, that person is going down to. Starting shit, or picking on people weaker than you, is a different issue. Also:


Then again she made her boyfriend let her fuck him with a strapon to "make the power in the relationship even".


Tha lack of consent implied by this statement clearly demonstrates a very uneven distribution of power in the relationship.

[Proletarian]

she did not force him lol, would of been hard he is a 6 ft 2 doorman:)

[Radical]

Yes and I have frequently brought this up with Comrades.

It is sexist if you refuse to hit a women, but are still willing to hit a man.
If a man punches you and you hit him back. We should be willing to do the same with a women - Or else we are sexist

The problem with this for me however is I would still find it amazingly difficult because I've been totally raised from birth that hitting a women is disgustingly bad.

There may be other reasons that would make you not want to hit a particular women(smaller than the man you hit). However if you choose not to hit a women purely because shes a women, then that is sexist(which is why most people dont hit women)

[Stranger Than Paradise]

In general I don't think it is a good idea to hit people in your ordinary day-today life.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

The reason why I would be more reluctant to hit a woman then a man is because chances are they are weaker. For instance if someone flips out and acts violently and they are female or weak man i'm goign to be able to restrain them however most men and women who are far stronger then usual im probably going to have to hit them.

Also yes it is probably cultural for me to feel reluctant about hitting women although i'd be lieing if I said this bothered me as I would rather it was like this then being seen as manly to hit women as was once the case.

[rednordman]

Then again she made her boyfriend let her fuck him with a strapon to "make the power in the relationship even".:ohmy::ohmy::ohmy:Holy Shit!!! (hides behind sofa)

In saying that she did not force him, are you still emplying that it ACTUALLY happened!?

[Manifesto]

:ohmy::ohmy::ohmy:Holy Shit!!! (hides behind sofa)

In saying that she did not force him, are you still implying that it ACTUALLY happened!?
Doesn't seem like something he would make up for no reason and some couples do do that. Why would you feel the need to post that?

[rednordman]

Anyhow in principle your friend is correct, afterall what happens when a woman hits a man? Is it fair that a man should simple take it? Some women can hit as hard if not harder than men.

The only fair conclusion is that of that any violence against either sex is wrong.

[9]

I don't think men feeling comfortable to hit women has anything at all to do with women's liberation.
I actually think this is a troll thread.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I think considering that wife beating has been legal in many places for a long time, that we can say that threats to hit a woman are not the same as joking around about beating a male friend.

I think that it is easy to say (without being bourgeois and moralistic about "fragile" women) that threatening or joking about beating women is poor taste and can be sexist. Afterall, even though bourgeois sentiment says it's wrong to hit any woman under any circumstance, characters in popular film and books (like any played by John Wayne) regularly smacked and punched women for "talking too much" or "nagging".

If you are in a physical altercation then I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with defending yourself against anyone. If you are a man in an argument with a woman and you hit her, then it really is being a bully and a manifestation of sexist ideas in society if you think you can intimidate and silence a woman.

[CELMX]

should this be moved to discrimination?

[CELMX]

well...if you don't hit the woman, then that's good, am i right? I don't care what you call it, sexist or whatever, at least less women are going to be abused if you believe you shouldn't attack them!

[The Count]

It is sexist if you refuse to hit a women, but are still willing to hit a man. If a man punches you and you hit him back. We should be willing to do the same with a women - Or else we are sexist

Sexism, like prejudice, is not innately negative. Men and women are different and therefore should be treated differently in certain situations. I am sexist, in the way that it would take much more provocation from a woman than from a man for me to respond with violence. I'm aware that it's a cultural norm (at least in the West) that's in the way of complete equality for women, but why would we want them to be completely equal in every way? Are the differences in the way we treat women in comparison to men really a bad thing? I surely interact with women much differently than I do with men. Not because they're inferior, but because they're different.

[FreeFocus]

I'll defend myself against any legitimate aggressor. I may give a small woman who weighs 100 lbs more of a window of time to stop, as less of a threat is posed, but nonetheless I would still act to defend myself.

[Искра]

I actually think this is a troll thread.
I agree.

I was thinking that this is serous until this part:

Then again she made her boyfriend let her fuck him with a strapon to "make the power in the relationship even".

[Plagueround]

I actually think this is a troll thread.

I think so too, but I think it can be turned into a learning opportunity. I'll let it run for now.

[bcbm]

:ohmy::ohmy::ohmy:Holy Shit!!! (hides behind sofa)

In saying that she did not force him, are you still emplying that it ACTUALLY happened!?

people fuck each other outside of the missionary position, get over it.

[Sean]

http://www.zagura.ro/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/god-kills-kitten-troll.jpg

[Hiero]

This is probally a troll thread but anyway.

Violences against women rarely happens in the vacum people are describing. Violence against women often occurs in a household of consistant abuse, neglect, pyschological, physical etc.

All the scenerio's people described are absolutly absurd. You can judge for your self in the given moment at what extent to defend yourself, but I have rarely seen or heard of women attacking men in the random.

This conversation then is really bullshit and should be moved to chit chat, and maybe we could discuss a more serious matter.

For instance here in Australia I heard on a tv show, which quoted a reasonable source, that domestic violence against women goes up by 66% on Melbourne Cup day.

[chegitz guevara]

Women are not just slightly smaller than men. They tend to also be disproportionately weaker. If you were to fight a man of a similarly smaller size it would be more equal than "fighting" a woman. If it were not the case that men are so much more powerful physically than women, sexism would have been a lot harder to enforce. The fact that it is a global problem and one that has existed for most of recorded history ought to tell us that it is not sexist to demand that men not hit women, even if hit by women. It's not an equal relationship, and short of genetic engineering or cyborg implants, never will be.

Of course, it is completely acceptable to defend yourself from attack by women, but you should only ever use such force as is necessary to prevent your or someone else being harmed. To be honest, that applies to any violence, against men, women, attack ducks, etc.

[Spawn of Stalin]

Although technically I agree that men and women are the same and thus should be treated exactly the same, I'd have a much bigger problem hitting a woman than I would hitting a man. Don't get me wrong, if a woman comes at me with a knife, I'm going to punch her out, however, I could never just go out and assault a woman, I'd have to be in real danger to even think about hitting one. If this makes me sexist then so be it, I also hold doors open for women, so I'm extra sexist.

[Chicano Shamrock]

people fuck each other outside of the missionary position, get over it.
Yeah but a fake penis fucking a guy? Who gets the satisfaction in this situation?

Anyway women are the lifeline of the human race. I think it is natural that we wouldn't want to hit them or that we would make these moral guidelines of not hitting them.

[Proletarian]

without men there could be no babies, same goes for women, we are as important as each other.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

I've just realised how absurd this thread is, it's called punching women for christ sakes.

[Hit The North]

I'm tempted to move this to chit chat, however...

Moved to Discrimination.

[Guerrilla22]

There is a huge difference between just randomly assaulting someone you don't know and domestic abuse. Most instances of men hitting women come from domestic relationships. In that situation violence is being used to coerce behavior by one person in the realtionship on another person in the relationship. In a domestic situation the use of violence is wrong no matter who is doing to who, be it a man hitting a woman, a man hitting a child, a man hitting another man, a woman, hitting a man, ect.

[Il Medico]

Hows bout you don't hit people in general?

[Il Medico]

http://www.zagura.ro/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/god-kills-kitten-troll.jpg
Is that Domo from 7-11?? :lol:

[rednordman]

people fuck each other outside of the missionary position, get over it.Yes, just I usually like to be the one doing the fucking, not the one getting fucked. I wasnt being serious anyhow;).

[eyedrop]

Yeah but a fake penis fucking a guy? Who gets the satisfaction in this situation? [Off-topic]Sexual power plays, domination and psychology. Sex isn't just physical interaction.[Off-topic]

[bcbm]

Yeah but a fake penis fucking a guy? Who gets the satisfaction in this situation?

generally both partners. even if the dildo isn't one made to stimulate both, the anus is an erogenous zone and the one wearing the strap-on probably enjoys making their partner feel good.


Yes, just I usually like to be the one doing the fucking, not the one getting fucked.

your loss.

[counterblast]

Then again she made her boyfriend let her fuck him with a strapon to "make the power in the relationship even".

Yeah but a fake penis fucking a guy? Who gets the satisfaction in this situation?

Yes, just I usually like to be the one doing the fucking, not the one getting fucked.

:rolleyes:

Please join a fraternity or something.

[RotStern]

Is that Domo from 7-11?? :lol:

Yes it is xD
Domo smash!

[rednordman]

generally both partners. even if the dildo isn't one made to stimulate both, the anus is an erogenous zone and the one wearing the strap-on probably enjoys making their partner feel good.



your loss.:laugh:.....OK, I understand where you are coming from. You obviously have a more varied and exotic sex life than I do. I loose...and fair play to ya:).

[The Red Next Door]

If a women or man try to harm i would defend myself.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

If a women or man try to harm i would defend myself.

As you should. I've witnessed a few relationships where women (well, girls) were physically abusive to their boyfriends and I found it disgusting both because of their actions and their boyfriends refusing to defend themselves out of fear of being labeled an offender by society. But like chegitz said, some restraint when necessary is ideal. You don't need to beat your opponent into the ground after he or she has given up. I think the physical differences between men and women account for why this "truthism" emerged, but you have to take each situation independently of another. Some of the smallest people in the world are the best fighters, and one particular abusive relationship I witnessed had a five foot female raking at the eyes of her six foot boyfriend in public..

Male-on-female violence is still overwhelmingly common and needs the uttermost attention drawn to it, but it's also estimated one in six (http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/law/victims/malevictimsofdomesticviolence) men will face domestic abuse during their lifetime, and unfortunately social criticism makes it hard for these men to come out and bring their stories to the forefront. People still can't grasp how men are raped by females, for example.

[rednordman]

If a women or man try to harm i would defend myself.You know, in that one simple line you have said all you needed to say. The thing that makes me think is how in this society if a man actually defended themselves against a female attacker, than that is still seen as being extremely taboo.

Obviously for a man to hit a woman for any other reason is totally out of order for the reasons that many other posters have already mentioned.

Where is the 'happy medium'? - this is why i have come to the simple conclusion that any 'domestic' violence against either sex is very wrong.

[Jazzratt]

It's absolutely pointless to discuss this in terms of self defense. If someone is attacking you then of course all bets are off on acceptable targets. That doesn't mean you can come to a discussion like this that has a bit more to it, say "yeah you should thump women in self defense" and pretend you've got to the bottom of it.

As other members have pointed out the main problem with men hitting women is the power relationships that exist within our society. Men are already in a position of power, as well as being encouraged toward strength and fighting ability, unlike women who are encouraged to take only certain types of martial art and a positively discouraged from building up strength: thus becoming disproportionately weak when compared to most men. Not only that but the majority of violence commited by men against women is in a domestic setting; some unreasonably violent backbirth failure slapping around his wife and kids. That is why it is seen as (and quite often is) less acceptable to hit women.

To be honest though we should generally avoid attacking people and starting unecessary fights because we're not pricks.

[ChrisK]

I'm much less likely to hit a girl than a guy, even if the girl hit me. This has a lot to do with having been hit by both guys and girls (my sister when she's really mad) guys tend to generate WAY more power than girls. I guess I really will only hit back if their hit actually hurts.

Now this isn't sexism, since it can be biologically shown that men can generate more power than women. Testosterone determines muscluar size and power. Men have about fifty times as much testosterone as women do, ergo, more often than not men are stonger than women.

However, if Gina Carano hit me and I was still alive, I'd definatly hit back and run crying, so it really does depend on actually damage done to me.

http://www.gina-carano.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/gina-carano-kelly-kobold.jpg

Carono Kick!!!!!!!

[black magick hustla]

violence against women is not really a problem because of the "violence" itself. men get killed more, beaten more, etc. the issue here is that it is generally used pretty uniformly to assert the dominance of males over women

[The Essence Of Flame Is The Essence Of Change]

Gosh some of the sexism in this thread is astounding..

As many said before you should by no means be punching people in everyday life.Violence is an ultimate mean,to be used when everything else won't work and should not be endorsed in personal level.In case of self defence/defence of course it all depends on the person attacking and the situation.You shouldn't look at the gender-you should look at the threat she/he poses and act accordingly.

The people arguing that women are inherently weaker and smaller than men forget that this is a result of the enviroment at most,both by the roles it assigns to each gender and the biological consequences deriving from that.Yes the majority of women are in a disadvantageous position against the majority of men but how could it be any different in a patriarchical society?When the young boy is raised to like sports and train himself and the young girl is trained to play with dolls?Socialism is about liberating people and feminism,a necessary part of it is about liberating people from gender norms.If you have any disbeliefs against how capable are women of growing a strong body come tell our local basketball women's team and kudos if you walk out alive.If you want men macho'ing around and women cleaning on the kitchen then GTFO my socialism.

As for the punching itself,it seems that most people here don't understand the nature of the violence against women that creates sexism.Patriarchy is enforced and retained not due to a man beating a woman on a street fight or a brawl but due to hierarchical,uniformal violence which imposes the domination of one gender above the other and which is usually domestic violence (counting only direct violence and not all the psychological violations that take place every day against women).Being hesitant of ''punching'' women just because they are women is not something to be proud of.It's part of the male chauvinism that has it's roots from the first human societies and has the strong males protecting their female partners in trade of their servitude.So the man could go and hunt while the woman had to stay and take care of the babies.We should be past that now.

P.S. Before you considering spewing any POV bs, let me remind you I am male myself - Oh and since the thread was not counted as trolling and it actually started a conversation please change the damn title plz.

[9]

The people arguing that women are inherently weaker and smaller than men forget that this is a result of the enviroment at most,both by the roles it assigns to each gender and the biological consequences deriving from that.Yes the majority of women are in a disadvantageous position against the majority of men but how could it be any different in a patriarchical society?

No, I'm sorry, I think this is flatly incorrect. On average, women are weaker than men because of factors that by and large have absolutely nothing to do with how patriarchal a society is. Body structure, muscle mass, things like that.



When the young boy is raised to like sports and train himself and the young girl is trained to play with dolls?The effect that these things have on physical power and strength is minimal. If you take a male child and a female child and provide an equal level of athletic training over the course of fifteen years, on average, the male will ultimately still be far stronger than the female.



Socialism is about liberating people and feminism,a necessary part of it is about liberating people from gender norms.Well, I certainly agree with that.


If you have any disbeliefs against how capable are women of growing a strong body come tell our local basketball women's team and kudos if you walk out alive.Of course, the accurate way to measure this would be to compare the strength of your local female basketball team against your local male basketball team. Calculate the average weight each team can bench press and compare. I guarantee you will find that the male average is significantly greater.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

The people arguing that women are inherently weaker and smaller than men forget that this is a result of the enviroment at most,both by the roles it assigns to each gender and the biological consequences deriving from that.If this were true, it stands to reason that the top female athletes would do reasonably well when compared to the top male athletes, since both sides are essentially forced in a situation where they must achieve the best standards in the world. That isn't the case (http://chestofbooks.com/food/household/Woman-Encyclopaedia-1/Sports-Records-By-Women-And-Men.html).

Yeah, if a female trains herself with weights, she can beat the sperm out of 95% of men.

[VeganLiz]

I'm going to risk sounding like a sexist here...

My friend and I were debating this a while back. We were out drinking one early morning and came across a couple who were beating the heck out of each other. Clearly they were drunk, and maybe even mentally unstable...

Alli (my friend) started getting really angry about the guy hitting the girl. He was about twice her size and all plus she didn't think it was ever okay to hit a woman. The woman however was the one taking most of the swings, she even had her heels off to beat her boyfriend over the head with them. It became clear that he was just trying to get away from her.

I thought the man was in the right. He was trying to get away while at the same time having to smack her to get away. It was really pathetic to watch, as they were both stumbling around like morons.

I think sometimes you have no choice but to hit back and for my friend Alli to judge the guy seemed unfair. Of course you shouldn't hit anyone but what are you supposed to do when your girlfriend is chasing you down the road and not letting you go?

And yes, I do think women are usually weaker than men but that's all biology.

Alli called the polizei saying a man was beating a woman. Just seemed really unfair to me but that's just my opinion.

[9]

I'm going to risk sounding like a sexist here...

My friend and I were debating this a while back. We were out drinking one early morning and came across a couple who were beating the heck out of each other. Clearly they were drunk, and maybe even mentally unstable...

Alli (my friend) started getting really angry about the guy hitting the girl. He was about twice her size and all plus she didn't think it was ever okay to hit a woman. The woman however was the one taking most of the swings, she even had her heels off to beat her boyfriend over the head with them. It became clear that he was just trying to get away from her.

I thought the man was in the right. He was trying to get away while at the same time having to smack her to get away. It was really pathetic to watch, as they were both stumbling around like morons.

I think sometimes you have no choice but to hit back and for my friend Alli to judge the guy seemed unfair. Of course you shouldn't hit anyone but what are you supposed to do when your girlfriend is chasing you down the road and not letting you go?

And yes, I do think women are usually weaker than men but that's all biology.

Alli called the polizei saying a man was beating a woman. Just seemed really unfair to me but that's just my opinion.


Yeah, of course. I think it's been correctly established in this thread, despite the intermittent nonsense, that defending yourself from attack is not the same thing as just "punching women" (as the thread's trollish title states).
Honestly, though, I'm a bit concerned about this being such a focus. To the very unlikely extent that a man is being physically assaulted by a woman and doesn't defend himself because of "societal implications", sure, it's relevant. But in reality, domestic violence in the vast, vast, vast majority of instances is men abusing women, not the other way around. So yes, we can fuss over the tiny possibility that a man is in such a situation and allows himself to be subjected to physical violence because he doesn't want to seem like a sexist, but honestly, this should be the least of anyone's concerns with regard to the extremely prevalent, enormous problem that is domestic violence.

So just to be clear, if you're a man and someone is physically attacking you, you don't discriminate based on sex - you defend yourself and restrain the attacker.
But otherwise, no, don't go around punching women and saying its because you believe in womens' liberation. Ideally, though, that would just be elemental common sense.

[VeganLiz]

^Agreed. :)

[Ali Bumaye]

if she wears a uniform, why not:)

[The Essence Of Flame Is The Essence Of Change]

@ Apikoros: what you do not take into account though, is the offshoot the conditions in society have in your biological status.Evolution shows (in a much more complex way than I'm explaining now) that organisms develop the attributes they use/need.Since patriarchy limits the female gender in certain roles and tasks it's inevitable that the average female body will develop accordingly.However this is easily changeable as you can see from the few but existing examples of female athletes which show how a change in the stucture of society can have an impact on the biological features of it's members,exactly as changes in the nutrition and life quality has resulted in an average height increase in the new generation.Feminism aims to unlock all aspects of life for the people regardless of their gender and as such the establishment of a feminist society will eventually eliminate the biological differences that are applied to each gender according to their body,except the basic ones (reproductional system,some average hormones levels etc)

As in strength itself,I don't have time to search for a proper study on the matter but from what little info I can find from googling around, the key hormone, testosterone might be produced around averagely fifty times more in male organisms but that number is always average and the ranges often overlap.

In any way, to get back in topic, the thing is that as we said violence against women as in an attack against their gender is usually found on domestic incidents.In a case of a fight there are so much more factors to take into account other than muscular strength alone, such as the situation evolving, how much confidence and self control one has (as you can understand sexism plays a big role here),how much is she/he used to coping under such circumstances,if one is armed or not etc etc that the question of gender becomes irrelevant.As thus my original reply was not aimed to people like you but rather some comrades that with or without understanding it are following a chauvinistic kind of thinking :)

[Dr Mindbender]

Then again she made her boyfriend let her fuck him with a strapon

Lucky bastard.

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

Generally, females are physically weaker than males and so a man punching a woman would be more likely to cause serious injury than if he was punching another man. Of course, if a woman was charging at a man with a knife, the debate about gender sort of goes out of the window.

It's a bit of a weird discussion, though. I mean, if you want to make it really fair, why don't you just try not going around punching people? That way men don't punch men, men don't punch women - equality!

[NecroCommie]

Yeah, instead of making yourself easy on punching women to reach equality, why not making it an equal taboo when you punch men?

[OriginalGumby]

I thinks its silly to think that a women fucking a man with a strap-on makes for equal power in a relationship. As if all men oppress and dominate women by the fact that they have penises. Get real.

[danny bohy]

A girl wont go out with you if you hit them. stupid.:D

[manic expression]

The people arguing that women are inherently weaker and smaller than men forget that this is a result of the enviroment at most,both by the roles it assigns to each gender and the biological consequences deriving from that.Yes the majority of women are in a disadvantageous position against the majority of men but how could it be any different in a patriarchical society?When the young boy is raised to like sports and train himself and the young girl is trained to play with dolls?
I'm quite certain that almost all modern science holds that men are, in general, biologically stronger than women. That's a very natural difference between women and men.

[NecroCommie]

Yes, but that is an average and a pretty vague one at that. I can name dozens of girls who will beat the shit out of me, and some women might be "weak" due to following cultural norms. Perhaps strong women are not a majority, but they are still a big portion of women in general.

[manic expression]

Yes, but that is an average and a pretty vague one at that. I can name dozens of girls who will beat the shit out of me, and some women might be "weak" due to following cultural norms. Perhaps strong women are not a majority, but they are still a big portion of women in general.

I see what you're driving at, but "a big portion" is a lot more vague than a scientifically accepted average. The fact is that if you take a random male and a random female above the age of 18, the male will be stronger in the majority of cases. Exceptions prove the rule. All I'm trying to establish is that in general, men are physically stronger than women.

[NecroCommie]

Oh man, I just realized I made a comical mistake. :laugh:

I can name dozens of girls who will beat the shit out of me...
Even now they stalk behind my door... :(

[The Broke Cycle]

Equal rights, equal fights.

[Ultra_Cheese]

The posts in this thread miss the point, and anyone who talks about this question and speaks of retaliation is also missing the point. The problem is not that men are so unwilling to hit women, but that they are all too willing to hit other men. Men are socialized to be violent and to accept violence. When a woman is assaulted, we say she was beaten. When a man is assaulted, we say he was in a fight. The implication is that a man is capable of being equal to his aggressor, but a woman is clearly the victim. This is where I feel most of the people posting are lost. Their worry is not a victim's worry, but the worry of whether they will be equal to their aggressor, or whether they will make their aggressor the victim.

[9]

The posts in this thread miss the point, and anyone who talks about this question and speaks of retaliation is also missing the point. The problem is not that men are so unwilling to hit women, but that they are all too willing to hit other men. Men are socialized to be violent and to accept violence. When a woman is assaulted, we say she was beaten. When a man is assaulted, we say he was in a fight. The implication is that a man is capable of being equal to his aggressor, but a woman is clearly the victim. This is where I feel most of the people posting are lost. Their worry is not a victim's worry, but the worry of whether they will be equal to their aggressor, or whether they will make their aggressor the victim.

I am actually very unsure of some of what you are saying; I think I get the gist of it up until the bolded part (and that's where you've lost me completely), so I will just address the part that I understand.
A woman who is assaulted by another woman is not said to be beaten. Nor, generally, is a woman who is assaulted by a man said to be "beaten" unless the man is someone with whom the woman is intimate (boyfriend, husband - almost always when the man and woman live together: domestic abuse). And in that instance, the assault is not just some street brawl, it is a way for the male to exert power over the female within the relationship. And really, in the reverse instance of a woman who beats her boyfriend/husband, nobody would refer to the incident and say "he was in a fight". More likely, people would say "he got beat up by his girlfriend/wife". Of course, the reason why you've probably never heard anyone say this is because the fact of the matter is that there is no comparison between the frequency with which women are the victims of domestic abuse at the hands of men and the frequency with which men are the victims at the hands of women. Women are the victims in the vast majority of cases because they are, on average, significantly physically weaker and because men occupy a position of social privilege relative to women in which it is often considered acceptable for a man to exert his "authority" over his girlfriend/wife, and violence is an all too common manifestation of this.