How come women can hit men but men cant hit women?

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No one should be hitting anyone, period.

It is not socially acceptable for a man to hit a woman because of his (usually) superior strength overall. This is (on some level) about the survival of our species. It's also a "fairness" issue.

I'm a small man who has been with some pretty hefty women in my time. I still wouldn't hit a woman unless I HAD to defend myself--such as if she pulled a knife or something. I believe this is honorable, actually.

No, I don't believe anybody should hit anybody. Legally, this is so throughout the world.

Like Amity said, physical violence is a loss of control.

I've never started a fight in my life--but I've finished a few. The last time I was in a non-robbery-related fight was when I was about 14-15 years old. (let me emphasize: I was always the victim in these instances).

TEH EVEL FEMINISTS!! !! But really, nobody should hit anybody, its 2015 why do we still think we have to solve problems or vent anger with violence??

Yeah, I think the answer is fairly obvious. The average man can do more damage than the average female. I was going to link to the video of Ray Rice knocking his wife unconscious, but it was too disturbing.

But, it's still not okay for a woman to hit a man either. It's just that the ramifications are likely to be less severe.

It's not.

It isn't.

I went looking for some stats and found this:

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aus9010.pdf

It's a table of 2010 arrests in the U.S. broken down by sex,age and race.

In 2010 in the U.S. 347,480 women were arrested for simple assault, which is defined as assault not using a weapon and not causing serious injury to the victim. A woman hitting or slapping a man would fall under simple assault. The stats don't break down the victims into categories so I don't know how many of these 347,480 simple assaults were committed against men as opposed to against women or children. But it must have been some of them.

No doubt you can find youtube videos of people looking the other way, or movies where it is done as comedy, but laws (in the U.S. definately) do reflect the general values of the society. 347,480 arrests show that it really is not considered ok.

A man who punches a woman may be arrested for aggravated assault (a more serious crime) while a woman punching a man may be arrested for simple assault. But that difference is reflective of the amount of damage done to the victim, not that society finds it ok for women to hit men. A woman who hits a man with a weapon (bat,pipe whatever) will be charged with aggravated assault. And 92,030 women were charged with aggravated assault in the U.S. in 2010. This is taken seriously even if you think it isn't.

Obviously, there are no legal distinctions.

However, the societal distinctions remain---and for good reason.

Your interest in psychology and evolution is cool, but basically everything you've said here is wrong. Group selection is Not A Thing. If you want to go down that route, then perhaps men are disgusted by violence against women because it prevents them from spreading their wild oats - but there isn't actually any evidence for that.

In science, we make claims based on evidence, not just things that sound plausible and confirm our worldview.

Not all males are all that big and strong though....nor have the ability to otherwise prevent them from hitting them. I mean there are some females that are bigger and stronger than some males and such. My brother for instance if a woman started hitting him he'd probably be able to stop her without resorting to hitting but he is tall and though he looks fairly skinny he's pretty strong but not all guys are built like that. Of course in a situation where the situation can be diffused without any hitting back that should be done...but it really depends on the situation. That is why there cannot really be such an absolute. I mean generally its never ok to hit children, well in the rare senerio where one a lot bigger than you attacks you and no one else is around to help it could happen...or in countries where young children are involved in violent conflicts and may sometimes even carry guns, maybe in that sense if in position to hit them and knock their weapon away would be better than shooting them...morally....but of course that is hardly the same thing as beating a defenseless child because they got an F on their report card for instance. Just like a guy hitting a smaller woman for saying something he doesn't like hard enough to knock her out is not the same thing as being over-powered by a strong female intent on beating you to a pulp unless you fight back and hitting back in self defense.

It's not okay! No one has the right to inflict pain on anyone else. No one likes being hurt.

If people could learn tolerance, patience, respect and to keep their hands to themselves, it'd be a much nicer, happier world.

Love, peace & kindness to all living entities

I think most countries consider it assault regardless of who hits whom. Maybe men get a heavier sentence, although I am not sure. It would make sense, since men tend to be stronger than women.

Anyway, the reason why it seems to be okay is because of an amusingly ironic consequence of male dominated societies: most men are simply too proud to report to the authorities when they get hit by a woman.

Nobody should be hitting anybody in 2015 and that's that. I also love my big, beautiful arms.

It's not okay for anyone to hit anyone, but for anyone who genuinely thinks "men can't hit women" I strongly suggest checking out domestic violence statistics.

That is to say, there's not much to stop a man from hitting a woman.

And no one should be hitting anyone.

Also that guy going on about "women being more valuable because reproduction blah blah blah" is spouting a typical evo psych just so story. It's not reality and doesn't resemble reality.

It's an unfair double standard, based on the false assumption is that women are defenseless, while men are not.

Some people would look at it as okay for a man to hit another man, even if the one doing the hitting is much bigger than the other. They think the smaller man should just "man up" and defend himself. If a man has another man arrested for assault, many would see that as cowardly.

If a man and woman are having a physical fight, it's likely that the man will be seen as "beating" the woman, even if she started it.

If a woman emotionally abuses her husband for years, and he finally explodes one day and hits her, just ONCE, he is the one who will be seen as the abuser.

And in a society where there are, increasingly men who are 'metrosexual', and women who are 'tomboys' in equal working roles, the traditional physical difference lessens.

No one has the right to touch anyone else. Male or female. End of story!