You have got to be kidding! On the day I tweet about what a great columnist Sonia Poulton at the Daily Mail is (I really admire the way she raises awareness of many social issues), Carol Sarler writes an article IN THE SAME PUBLICATION endorsing men who hit women if they, seemingly, ‘ask for it’.
Just to clarify, there is no excuse for any violence in interpersonal relationships (or any relationship for that matter). The occasional slap is extremely damaging, usually part of a wider pattern of coercive control in which the woman lives in constant fear of the next outburst.
As for the women who ‘goad’ men to hit them to get the ‘moral high ground’ (which is what is reported in Carol’s article) these are dysfunctional relationships where violence has become the norm. It doesn’t mean that the violence within these relationships should be excused or condoned. It’s a situation that needs to be rectified.
Men who hit women largely do so because they feel they are entitled to. These men have a problem and need to take a serious look at how they define their masculinity. Carol’s article in my opinion reinforces this view by minimising the impact men’s violence towards women has on the women involved by referring to ‘slaps’ as if they are harmless.
Here is the article in the Daily Mail.
I’ve shortened this now as it was a bit of a rant before!