Same, and the stories about certain family members don't quite ring true for me and how I seem to operate, but I have a temper and a certain disposition that I honestly wouldn't trust to put children through. I'd like to think I'd never strike a child, and I'd certainly make it priority #1 and everything else last priority, but I'm not willing to take the chance and will simply choose to never have any.

I have many reasons for not wanting kids, but not wanting to put my child through that moment of having to change their view of their parent from a caretaker to a rabid animal to be feared is absolutely the biggest. That **** is dehumanizing. I don't know quite how I feel about light spanking, as it's oddly ritualistic, but when you get that hit to the face from someone who's just angry and lashing out there's no equivocation on how unacceptable it is.

I agree. It's just happened that way with us though. Three brothers, two married and no sign of kids (nor do their wives want any, so there won't be any) and of course nothing from me. So the male side of our bloodline ends here, and if there's one last curse I can hurl at my owl fella before he ****s off off this planet, then that's the most effective I can.

You're done, ****. End of the line. No more you. When me and my two brothers die, that's it. Your stinking bloodline will be wiped from this Earth, and it'll be the better for it.

(Not, I hasten to add, that either of my brothers have a problem with temper or practice domestic violence on their partners - if anything, they're both hen-pecked. But you can never be sure. And anyway, **** that bastard is what I say.)

What if she was attacking you?

Kind of an entirely different argument that has no relevance to this discussion unless you're just trying to justify that time you smacked a woman cause she ****ed up your sandwich.

Obviously, he'd throw his already severed hands at her!
Yeah, well I think shitting up my sandwich kind of crosses the line...

Well, speaking in absolutes doesn't convey accuracy.

Then what social issue are you addressing?

As far as defending yourself against a woman attacking you goes: unless a) she is really heavy and muscular, b) out of her head on PCP or something, or c) has a weapon, most men (and I would probably include my own skinny self in that number) should be able to restrain a woman, hold her back and defend themselves without having to punch, kick or even slap her. Obviously, that's not always the case and there will be occasions where you have to treat an attack like that as if it were coming from a man, but as Batty says, that's really a different situation. We're talking - so far as I can see, anyway - here about domestic violence/abuse, about beating up a defenceless woman for little or nothing, and there can't really ever be an excuse for that. If a woman comes at you with a gun, you can't I guess say "well I can't hit her with a chair/baseball bat/insert weapon here", but that's defence not attack and certainly not abuse.

None at all. Just asked him if he would defend himself against a woman, or if he would stand there and be a punching bag.

He's just sayin, breh.