Hit Me with a Double Double Standard

(While I'm waiting for responses for the Breaking Bread series, I had an idea for a post. Please feel free to comment and discuss!)

I hate listening to the radio. I can’t stand the fact that I have no choice of what I listen to next and when annoying commercials come on. It drives me crazy. But at work we have the radio, and nothing but the radio, so help me God. 

So, for better or for worse, I was listening to the radio when they had a comedian come on and share a brief one minute joke. I found it on the internet afterwards. 

“A man and his wife were arguing one day. It had gotten pretty intense and finally, his wife stopped and said to him, "How would you like it if you didn't see me for two or three days?"
To which he stubbornly replied, "That would be fine with me."
Well, Monday went by and he didn't see his wife. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results. However, by Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her out of the corner of his left eye.”

People who know me can always tell when I’m thinking by my face. And I’m sure, had one of those people been there, they would have laughed at my expression  because my brain kicked into overdrive. I had one question spinning through my gears. “What if you switch the genders?” 

What if I came up to you and repeated this same joke, but said the wife got her eye swollen? It’s really not funny. It becomes almost sexist. But apparently it’s not when it’s the man getting hurt. 

Just so you know this is not an isolated incident. In many different TV sitcoms and movies it’s shown as funny or not very harmful to anyone. While researching this, I found this video. It’s a little long but honestly it’s worth it. Warning: there are multiple scenes of violence. 

A guy I follow on Facebook once posted "I heard a man explaining to someone younger that it was never right to hit a woman. Good to know, here I was under the impression it was never right to hit anybody."

If people are interested I may post something about pacifism…but that’s where I stand on violence. It’s never okay to inflict pain on other human beings. All people need to be respected and should not treated as less than human. It’s never funny to actually hit someone. 

What do you think? Is it okay for a woman to hit a man? Where do you stand on violence?