Maybe this is wrong. Maybe this is out of line. Maybe I don’t understand what “true feminism’ is. But I believe in equality. I believe women should be given the same opportunities as men. One sex is not better than the other, they can contribute the same amount to society. However, men and women have differences. There is no denying it. Men and women have different chromosomes, therefore different physical assets. Equality doesn’t mean ignoring differences. It means giving everyone the same respect and opportunity.

There is an idea that true feminism means that women who want equality should be ready to be treated like men. I saw a guy on Facebook post about this and I was deeply disturbed, not only by the statement itself, but the amount of support he received.

If you want to close the wage gap, if you want to stop being sexualized as you walk down the street, then you should be prepared to be treated like a man.

The argument is that if a woman hits a man, he would be able to hit her back. In the name of self-defense. In the name of “true feminism.” Because that’s “equality.”

That’s not equality, that’s the argument of a very angry man looking for an excuse to be violent.

I’m not advocating that anybody should ever hit anybody. It’s obviously not OK for a woman to hit a man either. What I am saying that the effect of the average woman’s punch or slap, is significantly less than the effect of the average man’s. That’s not saying women are weak, but generally, most women I know do not have a physical advantage over a man.

The scary reality is that one out of every six women in America has been sexually assaulted in her lifetime.

What I am saying is that usually a woman would hit a man for very different reasons than a man would hit a woman. Shall we look at that rape statistic again? It cannot be denied that usually the average man has a distinct physical advantage over the average woman. So to say equality means that in order for women to be given the same social rights and opportunities as men, they must prepare to be treated like a man physically? Because a woman doesn’t want to be treated as a person incapable of contributing to society, that gives a man the right to treat her as if she was the same size and weight as him?

It astonishes me that people actually agree with this idea.

I think we all remember the whole Ray Rice fiasco. You know, the one where the professional football player knocks his girlfriend unconscious? Want to know some of the top comments on YouTube of that video?

“They want equal pay but they don’t want equal rights.”

“She hit him first lmao. At least he's not a b*tch and letting a girl hit him and do nothing about it.”

“Feminism, if that b*tch swing on you like a man then let her ass take one to the face like a man”

Aside from the lovely array of degrading words and grammatical mistakes these commenters had to offer, they don't seem to be actual advocates of feminism, equal pay, or women in general, do they?

Last I checked, equal rights did not constitute the right to get punched in the face.

Yes, she started it. Yes, they were both in the wrong for engaging in physical violence at all.

But he clearly has the physical advantage, and that is not self-defense. That is brutality.

Self-defense implies that there is a legitimate threat of being over-powered, it does not excuse a “she hit me first so I’m gonna knock her lights out” mentality. That’s not equality, that’s petulant cruelty.

Don't force women to choose between their femininity and respect, and try to call it equal rights.