Yesterday, I read the sad news report about the mother in Chile who in a fit of rage killed her daughter because she refused to do homework her teachers assigned her for the summer break. And while my reaction was probably pretty similar to everyone else’s upon reading this news, this story also got me thinking about an unrelated issue that we as a society continue to tolerate or at least see no harm in. As the title of this entry implies, I’m referring here to the face slap.

It’s a scene most of us have witnessed numerous times in both films and TV shows, and probably for some even in real life. A man and woman are talking about something and then we see the woman’s face contort into a look of anger, hurt or a combination of both. This is soon followed by the woman giving the man a hard slap across the face, often causing the man’s head to turn off to one side that demonstrates the power behind the hit. In dramatic works, it’s certainly an effective visual tool for the audience to appreciate the depth of anger and/or hurt the woman feels as a result of the man’s revelation. However, this physical move is not just limited to the dramatic realm as some vehicles even use this as a comedic device. After all, there’s nothing funnier that seeing a man getting walloped by a woman, especially an old lady, right?

And yet, I have to admit that thinking more about this subject, I can’t help but wonder why we accept women being able to express their emotions with physical violence, if not also why we find it funny in some cases when they do. As a society, we would never feel the same about men hitting women. Sure, the point can be made that Click here to continue reading »”The Face Slap – Our Unspoken Tolerance Of Violence and Sexism”