Re: Is it ever alright to hit a female?
The only times I think its ok is if its legitimately the only resort. Almost all the time, there's no need to punch a woman, because you can and should be able to defend yourself or restrain her. Just grab her, throw her to the ground, and sit on her. If she's got a weapon, however, like a knife or bat or something, then all bets or off, and if you can knock her out, go for it. Ditto if she's on PCP or actually strong enough where you don't think you can restrain her without striking.
Hitting women is so frowned upon because its such a disparity in force. In cases where that's not so, all bets are off. It sounds like your son's situation is the latter.
To whomever said, "Don't be sexist," I couldn't tell if that was tongue-in-cheek or not, but I agree to a large extent. I wouldn't punch a 105 lb, 5' tall dude either if I thought I could just restrain him. Admittedly, I would be quicker to punch him than a female, but I still think the whole "disparity in force" thing applies.
EDIT: Also, in bar fight type situations things are also much more likely to be anything goes because the likelihood of weapons increases so much.
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