This feels like a not-completely-honest question. But here is my honest answer: “hit back” is a shorthand/metaphor for “react”. It’s an example with a very particular scenario in mind, but I’m sure you can generalize. Do something effective about it, the keyword to search for here is “domestic violence”.
This was not entirely a hypothetical question. My wife has attacked me several times. She hits me hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to injure. She had said several times that my refusal to fight back makes me less of a man and less attractive to her. The last time this happened, I did fight back, and she ended up with a nasty bruise on her stomach which was tender for days afterward. I also went to the local police station and filed a report, declining to press any charges. It has not happened since, although it could just be a matter of time.
(I am not the only person that my wife has attacked. She says that if she gets mad enough, she “blacks out” and can’t remember what happens. Apparently, years ago, she went to the hospital to visit a close relative, only to be rudely told by a doctor “You can’t go into that room, that person’s dead.” She doesn’t remember what happened next, but supposedly she tried to strangle the doctor and had to be restrained by the people who went with her to the hospital.)
This is not normal behavior on her part. This is domestic violence. The standard advice is to leave people who hit you. Possibly after clearly stating that you are not okay with being hit and you will leave if it continues, and giving her a chance to change her ways. Maybe she should work with a professional to help with her anger problems. But there is a significant risk that a person who regularly attacks you will escalate.
This feels like a not-completely-honest question. But here is my honest answer: “hit back” is a shorthand/metaphor for “react”. It’s an example with a very particular scenario in mind, but I’m sure you can generalize. Do something effective about it, the keyword to search for here is “domestic violence”.
This was not entirely a hypothetical question. My wife has attacked me several times. She hits me hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to injure. She had said several times that my refusal to fight back makes me less of a man and less attractive to her. The last time this happened, I did fight back, and she ended up with a nasty bruise on her stomach which was tender for days afterward. I also went to the local police station and filed a report, declining to press any charges. It has not happened since, although it could just be a matter of time.
(I am not the only person that my wife has attacked. She says that if she gets mad enough, she “blacks out” and can’t remember what happens. Apparently, years ago, she went to the hospital to visit a close relative, only to be rudely told by a doctor “You can’t go into that room, that person’s dead.” She doesn’t remember what happened next, but supposedly she tried to strangle the doctor and had to be restrained by the people who went with her to the hospital.)
This is not normal behavior on her part. This is domestic violence. The standard advice is to leave people who hit you. Possibly after clearly stating that you are not okay with being hit and you will leave if it continues, and giving her a chance to change her ways. Maybe she should work with a professional to help with her anger problems. But there is a significant risk that a person who regularly attacks you will escalate.