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Letters
Thursday, October 25, 2007 12:00 AM

What's so funny about abusive girlfriends?

News about women's role in domestic violence inspires comedy, as well as cries in defense of men.

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  • Friday, October 26, 2007 02:09 PM

    to 12:20 anon

    “as long as lots of people like Max think that when females hit males they are severely provoked but when males hit females they are not it's difficult to see how there will be real interest in changing the double standard, as opposed to instituting some ass covering pious lip service.”

    Okay, now you’re just making stuff up. Here’s what I said, sweetie

    “And I’m not excusing women who hit. Hitting is stupid no matter who does it. I’ve disciplined more than one teenage girl for slapping or kicking boys who made them angry. I don’t care how justified they are in their anger, and they are often very justified, they lose my sympathy and get in far greater trouble than the boy, even if his ruthless teasing started it. The idea that because they are “the weaker sex” they can get away with hitting is stupid and I discourage that line of thinking whenever I can.”

    Since you obviously don’t understand what I was saying (you wouldn’t misquote me deliberately now would you?) I’ll explain.

    When I have witnessed a female student hitting a male student, the girl is disciplined. I discipline these girls even when the boy did something to provoke them. Now, I did say that the girls are often justified in being angry with the boy, but I did not say they were always, or even mostly, justified in being angry. I did use the phrase “ruthless teasing” to describe why a girl might be justifiably angry at a boy, but I stated that it’s no excuse for her to hit them. If it makes you feel better, I will put in writing that I have often seen girls hit boys with little or no provocation. And I will also add that the boys who started the disagreement rarely hit back or are bothered by being hit. They usually laugh hysterically, thrilled they got such a violent reaction from their target.

    AND. I didn’t say anything about men hitting women unprovoked. Nothing at all. My basic point was, people shouldn’t hit each other.

    Now, I’m looking at my words and I think they’re pretty clear. So either you lack reading comprehension skills or you are trying to “severely” provoke me. But don’t worry, sweetie, I won’t hit you.

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