From a very young age, any male that was raised correctly has been told that he should never put his hands on a woman. While there’s nothing wrong with this statement (sans the exception rule), I feel as though it’s one sided and somewhat incomplete. By instilling this notion into the minds of both, boys and girls, we’re indirectly saying that it’s okay for a woman to put her hands on a man. This notion hurts women more than men because it gives some women a false sense of security, a propensity to physically disrespect men and to a degree it sets them up to become victims of domestic violence later on in life. I think that as much as the notion that a man should never put his hands on a woman is stressed, the notion that a woman should never put her hands on a man should be stressed equally if not more. How many times have you seen or heard of a woman hitting a man? Of those times how many times did the man do nothing in response? *cough*Charles Hamilton*cough* I believe that some women may hit or attack men with the preconceived notion that he will respond in the “correct” manner and do nothing.
For example, I was raised from a very young age to never put my hands on a woman and to treat women with utmost respect. In my 27 years on this earth, I’ve only had one physical altercation with the opposite sex….and that was in the 2nd grade. Remember when kids used to write “Do you like me?” on a piece of paper and put “Yes” of “No” on it for you to circle? Do kids still do that? With all of technological advancements that have taken place since the 80’s they probably don’t, shit they’ll be sending holograms in minute….damn I feel old. Anyway, one day this girl in my class sent me one of those notes and despite the fact that I didn’t really like her, I circled “Yes”. Back then in grammar school that was like saying “I do.” So we started our life together, you know…..sitting with each other at lunch, sharing butter cookies, holding hands, pushing her on the swings at recess…real love. So this lasted about 2 weeks before I decided I wanted to go back to living the life of a 7 year old bachelor. I figured I’d end it the same way it began, so I sent her a note. I don’t recall what it said exactly, but it was probably somewhere along the lines of “I don’t like you no mo…”
As I watched the note make its way over to her, I thought to myself, “she really likes me….this is gonna break her heart….and piss her off.” I wanted to do neither, so at one point I started to recall the note, but it was too late. The note was well on its way to her desk, being passed from one snot nosed hand to the next. Then I thought about it like, “Forget her, I’ve been missing out on quality conversations at recess with the fellas. We had catching up to do….the new season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was amazing, G.I. Joe had some new action figures that had just been released….I’m about to live it up!”
Then I saw her face as she read the note….two words came to mind….”Uh, Oh.”
Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy about the divorce papers she had just received. The whole day I remember feeling extremely uncomfortable. This probably had something to do with the fact that she was staring at me like I had just stole her chocolate milk at lunch and tore the heads off of all her Barbie dolls. I mean if looks could kill…I wouldn’t be writing this because I would’ve died when I was 7 yrs old. When school was over I felt so relieved that I had made it through the day without any problems. I figured she’d be over it by tomorrow. Then I saw her…she came rushing towards me, her face red, her eyes filled with tears…and it was at that moment that I felt like shit. I mean, I was about to apologize then…
…with strength of a ghetto Greek Goddess, she swung her right leg back and kicked me square in the nuts.
The pain….oh…my…God….the pain. Instantly, I fell to the to my knees and she began to stomp me like it was a gang initiation. Now at this point there were a few things going on. I was crying immensely from the excruciating pain I was feeling in my nuts. I was also wondering if I would be able to reproduce when I got older. Lastly, I was contemplating foot sweepin’ that little bitch and beating her ass. Then I remember thinking that this was a girl, an innocent, delicate, pink blouse wearing girl….and my parents raised me to never put my hands on a female. Plus, outside of the kick to nuts, she really wasn’t hurting me….so I laid there blocking her British Knight sneakers for about 2 minutes or so until she ran off.
Now suppose this little girl went on to kick a few more boys in the nuts while she was growing up. Then suppose that all of them responded to the situation the same way that I did. Subsequently, this little girl grows up to be a woman who has gone through life hitting men, who for whatever reason never hit her back. In addition to that, she was always raised to believe that a man should never put his hands on a woman. Now we have a woman who thinks it’s okay to hit a man because men don’t hit women back or at least they’re not suppose to. Despite hearing about and/or probably seeing men hit women, she thinks that those situations are rare exceptions and don’t apply to her because her experiences reinforce that train of thought. One day this grown woman gets into an argument with her boyfriend and things get heated. She punches him in the face. Now her boyfriend was raised to not put his hands on a woman…but he was also raised to believe if someone hits you, you hit them back. He also grew up thinking that the latter notion was more prevalent….so he punches her in the face.
She was wrong. He was wrong.
But the first thing that most people would say is that…
“He should’ve walked away.”
That would definitely be my response….but why is it that the burden of self-control is immediately placed on him? Is he more in the wrong than she is? Why wouldn’t the first thing out of people’s mouths be…
“She shouldn’t have hit him.”
In the end, I’m simply saying that both men and women should have the same amount of respect for each other. As with every action in life there are consequences, boys and girls need to be raised to know that they shouldn’t put their hands on anyone, regardless of their gender. We as a society need to place an emphasis on the fact that violent acts towards anyone male or female, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife is not right.
Doza said 
