Whoopi Defends Stephen A. Smith: If You Hit a Man, Don’t Be Surprised if He Hits Back

[merrily]

4. What if Maria Shriver hit Schwartzenegger, when he was in shape,

and he hit her "back" without pulling any punches, so to speak?

Doesn't differing size and strength play any role? Proportionality? What about the idea that the correct response to violence is almost always to remove yourself, if you possibly can, without putting yourself or anyone else into even greater danger.

I understand that some victims of domestic violence, regardless of gender, are stronger than their abusers, but were any of the statements involved qualified by stronger and weaker, or was it just about women and men? (Domestic violence exists in some same gender relationships as well.)

And what about putting out the idea that women provoke men into hitting them without a smack down of the person who originated those statements? (Not saying Whoopi didn't smack him down.)

If you count up all the cases of domestic violence in this country in male female situations, how many women have been landed in the hospital or morgue because of it, versus how many males? So, how dangerous are generalized statements that are unqualified, even as to proportionality, and that imply that physical violence against women is okay, if you have alleged been "provoked" into it?

Every male abuser I ever witnessed or heard of thought, in the moment, that he'd been provoked into hitting.