Is all abuse equal?
 

Thought this might be an interesting discussion, inspired by the red or black thread.

Would you say a male assaulting a female was any worse than a male assaulting another random male? Should it be punished more severely?

How about someone in a wheelchair. Is it worse to fight with them than someone ablebodied?

Elderly people, is it worse to be violent towards them than someone your own age?

I'm not too sure, now that I have thought about it properly. I do not think that male on female violence is any worse than male on male though.

All abuse is bad but I think that abuse to those who essentially aren't as sure whats going on and why (people with disabilities, old people and babies etc) is even worse.

Yeah this is how I'm thinking now.

However, I doubt I will ever be convinced on the male on female violence is worse than male on male. I think that that argument is just about stereotypes :/

I don't get the whole Man Vs Woman thing because yes women are generally said to be weaker, yet you could easily get a woman much stronger than a man, and the man being beaten when he's obviously too weak to do anything wouldn't be as big as a woman who is much stronger than he was. I don't know if that made sense :joker:

But I do think certain ones like Babies, Disabled and Eldery like Caitlin mentioned are worse.

if someone strong attacks or abuses someone weak they are a coward and without honour

most females are weaker than males, this is why it is wrong for men to fight women in most cases

if the woman was trained in military and fighting a man of equal strength, then they are evenly matched and a fair fight

the weaker the victim, the worse the abuse is

A man beating a woman is a lot worse than a man beating another man. Any man who hits a female is worthless.

I agree.

But what if she was stronger and hit him first?

If a girl hits a guy unprovoked she should be prepared for a slap back

Yeah this is what I mean about it being about sterotypes.

I know many women who would have the better of a man very easily if it came to fisticuffs.

And also, with man on man, the man receiving the beating might be weak as hell, weaker than how the average woman is perceived to be.

In general men are stronger than women, it's a biological fact, men are made up of more muscle then women are, so I think in that respect it's worse for a man to hit women, having said that all men are different to eachother as well and a very strong man hitting a very weak man could be just as bad.Personally though, I think nobody deserves to be assaulted so therefore I think that all unprovoked assaults should be treated severely and equally.

Men who abuse women don't usually end up with a woman who's willing or able to stand her ground and fight back. They're bullies. Same goes for women who abuse men.

Yeah, good point

Lets take relationships out of the equation though.

Say you were out in a bar. And a guy randomly punched a woman. Would this be worse than a guy randomly punching another guy?

If so, lets imagine the man that got randomly punched, was a really weak guy, smaller than the woman in the hypothetical situation.

someone randomly punching another person like that should be treated equally and harshly imo, regardless of sex, size or whatever

Let's not pussyfoot around this subject and try to be all politically correct... generally men are the stronger sex physically,therefore it is wrong for men to hit women, regardless of the circumstances. Occasionally, you will find women who fight like men, and yes, that is different, but on the whole, any man who lifts a hand to a female is scum.

Anyone who attacks a person/animal more vunerable than themselves is a coward. Man, woman, kitten.... whatever. Makes my skin crawl.

I agree that there are cases of women stronger than men, like Chyna from WWE or female weight lifters, i think we are talking about generalizations though, an the average woman is significantly less able to defend herself than the average man.

I think abuse definitely is not all equal. Not even between men. I think for instance a 16 y/o boy abusing an 8 year old boy is much worse than a 16y/o abusing another 16 y/o.

I know there are laws in the US that make it so boxers who get into fights, their fists are treated as "deadly weapons" in court, because obviously a boxer is more dangerous than a normal guy. So if a boxer get's into a fight with a normal guy, the boxer is require by law to show more restraint than a normal guy.

All violence is wrong. Legally, that attack in the bar, whether it be on a man or a woman, whether the man or woman was as weak as a kitten or a body builder, would carry the same sentence, mitigating circumstances aside. Morally though, I think most people would be more appalled at a man hitting a woman. This could be because - generally - all through history, men have been the ones who have gone to war and been expected to endure a certain amount of violence in their lives from childhood, their games being rougher generally, than girls games. Whereas women's role has been to nurse, teach and raise children. Also men are generally accepted to be physically stronger than women. There are some exceptions to this, but we have to talk generally unless there is a particular example put forward to discuss.

Domestic violence is different from a random attack in a bar where alcohol and poor judgement comes into play. One party is subjected - usually - to sustained attacks, both physical and mental. It is usually perpetrated by a man against a women, but not always. People who abuse in this way are bullies and need help to deal with their aggression, but first they need to accept they have a problem, which not many of them do. The other problem is that, in order for the police to prosecute an abuser, his (or her) victim needs to press charges, which they are often scared to do.

Either way, I'm sure we're all agreed that violence is never the answer.

but agreeing would make this a pretty dull forum.

No, I think abusing the weak and helpless is clearly not the same as abusing somebody who could at least fight back or defend themselves. Old people, children and the disabled all need extra protection from the law.

Each case is very different and I don't think you can make sweeping judgements. It also comes down to who is the aggressor. But abuse is, by definition, wrong in itself regardless.

A man who hits a woman with anything other than his Willy should be given the death penalty

Woman beater's are fuken DISGUSTING

Also i beat up a Dwarf once and people tried to say i was a bully when this dwarf was considered the strongest person in our year group

Legally as Livia states the law does not distinguish between the two, perhaps because the Law delibrately free's itself from Stereotypes, and Traditional rights and wrongs, and only see's equality between the sexes.

Morally there should not be a difference. Although anytime i hear a story of a Man being hit by a Woman i find it amusing, suggesting Morally there is a difference because visa Versa i would not be amused. The laughter however is always followed by a feeling of Hipocracy suggesting there isn't a difference after all.

So if it's not Morally or Legally different then i think it's just a relic of are past when Morality was just an empty part of the brain waiting to be put to use. Makes me wonder if the guys that do hit Women without provocation are just Cavemen.