Can we talk about female violence? I need to get my response straight

I have read lots of comments along the lines of 'the double standards in society sicken me', 'can't believe all these feminazis thinking its fine for women to hit men', 'people would be acting differently i it was him hitting her' etc.

But, I have not really seen comments actually condoning what she did in the first place . It's a pre-emptive backlash for the most part; people assuming society is cool with woman-on-man violence and berating that attitude when I'm not sure it really exists.

Yes, there has been a lot of speculation as to what 'provoked' it or if he 'deserved' it (I hate those phrases in this context) but absolutely no more than there would be if it was him hitting her. You hear 'what did she do to bring that on', 'what riled him' etc. all the time.

There are also plenty of jokes going around about it, but again I do believe it would be the same the other way round...i.e the Chris Brown/Rihanna thing.

I am pleasantly surprised at the amount of restraint he did show, with his past conviction (stabbing) and rough history it's fair to assume he wouldn't have took an attack without retaliating but, from what I can make out, he defended himself and tried to restrain her rather than hurting her back. Good job the bouncer was there too.

I think there is a big difference between defending yourself/ subduing your attacker and fighting back and retaliating. It's fair to hurt someone if it's the only way you can make them stop hurting you but there's been a good lot of comments around suggesting he should have engaged with her and knocked her out.

The delightful catchphrase 'equal rights, equal fights' is everywhere, being used by people whom, I imagine, would absolutely love a woman to slap them so they could justify beating the shit out of her

I always assume that people who pretend there's no difference between a man hitting a woman and a woman hitting a man, are domestic violence advocates tbh.

It's like pretending there's no difference between a child hitting an adult and vice versa in terms of the damage that can be done.

It's just very disingenuous. Or stupid, one or the other. The level of force an average woman has to use to cause real damage to a man, far outweighs the level of force the average man would have to use to cause damage to a woman. And yes, of course there are exceptions, but focusing on the exceptions rather than the rule, is usually the sign of someone who wants to excuse male violence against women and will use any point missing or exception to pursue that.

This video shows quite clearly the difference between male and female violence. The physical difference between Jay Z and Solange Knowles is striking. Even without the huge security guy, he could have swatted her away with no problem.

Men who are attacked by a woman are more physically able to hold their attacker at bay without needing to hit back. A woman in the opposite situation (being hit by a man) must fight hard to get away or fight back. Holding off the attacker just isn't an option.

Women who attack men must recognise they are less like to be hit back. Otherwise why would you do it. Men who hit pick on the weak. Women pick on stronger men. They trust that the man wont fight back.

Not sure there is a point to this but it is an interesting dynamic.

When i watched this video i saw the part where it seemed that JayZ was about to fight back but stopped himself and my immediate thought was "ooh, not good mr Z, you wanted to hit her" but then i thought, well hang on a minute, someone attacked him, he had been slapped and kicked numerous times, i know my natural instinct in that situation would be to fight back whether the assailant be male or female. I know if i was watching a video of a man attacking a woman and she fought back i would be thinking "good for you"

This video really has me challenging my feelings on this issue. Ultimately no-one should be hitting anyone really but when attacked?

Not sure if it's relevant but i was attacked by a female family member and didnt fight back. I am still so angry about it now that i worry about something like that ever happening again because i dont know if i would be able to stop myself really hurting an attacker beyond the point of self defense.

Actually i've just realised that is relevant to my feelings on this.

Sorry, posted too soon. I should clarify that (IMO) it's okay to see male on female violence as worse in a given context. However, that doesn't make either action acceptable.

I've never heard a Feminist condone any form of violence, between any gender.