Ass Kicking Women

There's an interesting post and discussion over at Dr. Helen's blog about a woman who may have over reacted physically to man who touched/grabbed her in bar. Dr. Helen, wife of Instapundit Glenn Reynolds, is a forensic psychologist who was rather critical of the woman's reaction, as am I. This led to 160 comments or so, some saying the woman deserves her ass kicked, others saying she had the right to behead the guy because he tried to touch/grab her, and everything in between. While it's nearly impossible to judge whether someone over reacted when you didn't witness the event, in general escalating a physical confrontation is something to avoid unless you have no other choice. The infamous Mr. Watson, the Green Beret martial arts instructor some of you may remember me talking about, was a huge advocate of the proactive walking away. Here's a guy who could knock the bejesus out of any number of hard cases and yet he would only do so if given no other choice. His theory was no matter how a fight turns out the event itself will ruin your evening, so it's better just to go someplace else. Does this give the asshats of the world license to be asshats? Perhaps, but you can always say something to the bouncer, owner etc. on the way out and let them deal with improving the clientele of their establishment. Now obviously if some yahoo wants to chase you down and kill you do whatever you deem necessary to protect yourself.