By: Joseph M. Gomez
On a bright, crisp October afternoon in New Jersey, the heated rivalry between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots resumed for the 2013 NFL season. There was no drama unfolding on the football field. However, an unscheduled event that took place in the MetLife stadium corridors that became the event highlight, one which would generated controversy and spark a heated debate.
In American society, social norms have dictated how men and women are supposed to conduct themselves. Traditionally, men have been told to never lay a hand on a lady. However, is it fair for a woman to strike a man first and for that man to hit her in return?
Kurt Paschke, a 38 year old man from Long Island was caught on tape punching 26 year old Jaclyn Nugent, a female, in the face. Paschke, who was a part of a group of Jets fans got in a heated confrontation with a group of Patriots fans including Nugent. In the end, four individuals including Paschke and Nugent were charged for their roles in the altercation, they also received lifetime bans from MetLife stadium.
Their argument turned physical while in the corridors of the stadium, where punches were thrown. On the video tape, Nugent was observed running towards the back of Paschke, she threw some punches which led to Paschke turning around and throwing a punch with his right hand into the face of Nugent.
So then, was Kurt Paschke wrong for hitting a woman in the face? In an interview with CNN, Paschke’s lawyer, Bruce Barket had this to say, “Even a quick review of the video and just talking to a couple witnesses, you can see Kurt was defending himself and (he) shouldn’t have been charged at all and certainly won’t be convicted.”
According to Paschke’s attorney, his client was justified in hitting Jaclyn Nugent because he did so in self-defense. Theresa Show, 21, a senior at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice says, “No, biologically men are stronger than women, and I think it’s wrong if men would punch back. She added, “I believe men tend to be stronger.”
Show’s rationale, which can be disputed, is not necessarily out of the mainstream. The view that women are physically inferior to men is a view that has been maintained across different cultures, religions and ethnic groups.
Another troubling case involving violence between a man and a woman occurred on a winter day in February 2011. Oscar Fuller, 36, got into a dispute over a parking spot with Lana Rosas, 26. What would result thereafter would come to surprise not just those involved and their families, but the entire City of New York as well.
Rosas, a woman, was standing in the street holding a parking spot for a friend in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village. Fuller, who was in his car and looking to park tried to take the spot. When the two met face to face, a war of would break out which then lead to violence.
According to Fuller, when Rosas started hitting him, he threw a punch, hitting her in the face and dropping her to the pavement. Rosas was knocked into a coma because of the incident and her family maintains that it was the force of Fuller’s punch that was responsible for her comatose state. Fuller denies this claim, saying that it was her head landing on the pavement which caused the severe injury.
Fuller was charged with misdemeanor assault, rather than the more serious charge of felony assault for which he was acquitted of. However, Fuller was sentenced to a year in jail.
Wai Chen, 21, a senior at John Jay had this to say, “If a girl hit me I would not get mad, I would not have the same anger if a guy hits me.” Chen argues that he could take the punch of a female and laugh it off but if he were hit by man it’d be a whole other story.
While there are those who believe it is wrong to hit a woman under any circumstance, and who argue that it is either immoral to strike a woman or that a woman cannot sustain a physical assault from a man, there are those who feel otherwise.
Take for instance Ken Leon, 23, a junior at John Jay College. Asked what he would do if he was attacked by a woman, Leon said, “I don’t think I’ll hit a girl, if it gets to the extent that she keeps hitting me, I’ll lay one on her.” He went on to elaborate a little more on what he believes is fair, saying “They want to go to war, they want to have the same rights, why shouldn’t they be treated as us.”
A view such as the one Mr. Leon has might come under attack as being a belief that only men might have. Bianca Almeida, 24, senior at John Jay seems to have some of the same thoughts when it comes to male/female violence. She said, “This system is made to benefit the woman… unfortunately the whole system is on the woman’s side.”
Almeida, who trained in combined martial arts back in her home of Astoria, Queens when she was a teen recalled occasionally hitting one of the boys in her class. She joked that the chief reason she bugged him was because he could not hit her back.
In the lobby of John Jay College’s North Hall building, during the school’s community hour as students swarmed in and out of the building sat Professor and Dr. Olivera Jokic. Dr. Jokic, a professor of Gender Studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, was sipping on a cup of coffee she purchased at the nearby school breakfast stand and had several things to say regarding the issue of man/female violence.
When asked whether a man is ever justified in hitting a woman professor Jokic shot the question right back saying, “What do you think?” In making her point she said is the use of reciprocal violence ever right.
The professor, who has a PH.D and two master’s degrees, one from the University of Texas and the other from the University of Michigan continued, saying “If a woman gets raped, should she have the right to rape the person that raped her.” She then began to question and analyze why it is we as a society value and often feel entitled to certain things, “Why do we value football, parking spots and violence?”
She also believes that our society rape culture, Jokic explained it as, “A rape culture is one that blames the victims of violence that happens to them.” She added, “We distribute blame and talk responsibility that men and women are different, that they have different relations to their bodies.”
Culturally we have rules, some written and many others unwritten that say how it is men and women must conduct themselves. Maybe the answer to a violent act should not be another violent act in return, maybe we should consider not laying our hands on anyone.