Reply #4: I get what you mean

[goodgd_yall]

That often happens to me too. There's still plenty of domestic violence towards women to make this a natural reaction. And if we have personal experience with it, all the more so. I mention DV rather than attacks by strangers because it is the most prevalent and most widely experienced either personally or by someone we know.

I've cringed when I hear the words "bitch slap" and "wifebeater" (as in the undershirt). I wondered if those terms are used mostly by people for whom violence was never a part of their experience so that they don't have any charge at all. Lucky for them.

I think the above examples you give don't bother me so much, but I think it has a lot to do with one's own experience and exposure to DV.