I grew up with three women in a generally pretty toxic family that had been like that for generations. It wasn't pretty/fun. Women are equal to men, they're human just like men are - they can also be manipulative, controlling and abusive. The fact that they can be also doesn't disqualify that men can be all those things, and that people of both genders can also both be wonderful and empathetic.

I think that we should have recognized that women can also be toxic after Abu Gharib. IIRC though that was credited with the boyfriend of the girl seen in all those pictures and generally contributed to people turning on the war in Iraq and George W. Bush.

Johnny has a heart of gold, that's all I will say.

So, because of this, people are talking about the fact women can be abusive. This is something we all knew but which I guess we are now finally acknowledging out loud.

Men are generally more physically powerful than women, which causes the idea that men can never hit them. Beyond that, there's a mentality among men to mock any man who ever complains about a woman.

One of my best friends growing up worked with his dad and spent most his time around guys. When he got sprung for ladies after moving out and going to school, he would mock his buddies who were more reticent as gay or losers. His brother got way more attention from his mom and never moved out, I had two sisters and a single mom and one of his other best friends also had a mom and two sisters. He called us gay and "loveless." He would make a show of doing this in front of women especially as an alpha move.

Once he realized that relationships  with the opposite sex have issues beyond hooking up, he apologized to all of us. But that mentality feeds in to no one really believing a man who is an abusive situation.