And Tochi Says… Whose thoughts are YOU thinking?

While not taking sides with either of the Rihanna-Chris Brown physical assault story, one thing that has concerned me about Rihanna’s recent television interview on this issue is how she stated that “…even if she had hit Chris first, it gave him no right to her her back.”

Huh? Now, wait a minute! Hold the presses! She could hit him and he could not hit her back? Since when did a woman hitting a man become okay? Even if she is the bigger/stronger one of the two?

In Sandbox Playrules 101, we learnt that it was wrong to hit other kids. Period. Unless the rules have changed since my days in the sandbox, the rule applied acros both genders. Don’t hit. It’s not nice. Don’t hit, because you could/will get hit back.

In Sandbox Playrules 102, we also learnt that it was not exactly a bright idea to hit bigger kids. Leave the big kids alone, and hopefully, they’ll ignore you long enough for you to live and grow.

I’d hate for the wrong message to be propagated to the world that in our neck of the woods, that a woman hitting a man is okay. It is NOT. Neither is a man hitting a woman okay. NO ADULT SHOULD BE HITTING ANY OTHER ADULT. PERIOD. If we send out this kind of skewed message to the world, opponents of women’s rights point their collective finger and say, “Aha! See how women’s rights now supersedes that of men?”

Personally, if a woman or man maliciously hits me first, I will do everything in my power to hit her/him back, with no apologies whatsoever. Fair and square. The corollary of this is: Whether I like it or not, if I maliciously hit anyone – female or male – first, I have given her/him the right to hit me back in return. Sandbox Playrules 101. If s/he’s bigger/stronger than me, Sandbox Playrules 102. It is her/his prerogative whether to follow through or not.

This is the thought: Let’s be rational, logical, fair. Men have rights to protection from violence, just like women. If we as women want to be treated as equals, that we have to accept responsibility for our actions… as equals. Nuff said.

The image used in this post is courtesy of the contributors to Creative Commons. I am immensely grateful.