Mornin' everyone! Just finishing up yesterday's testimony and I am not going to lie, but I skipped to Juror questions. I love the jury questions.
One comment about the bear/tiger example. As an adult survivor of severe childhood abuse, I have issues with men. Though my mother was negligent in protecting us, I have never allowed a 'man' i.e. dh or boyfriend to discpline my children because it causes me a great deal of anxiety due to the abuse. In my mind a man is large and powerful and therefore unable to control the level of discipline they can render. I start to cry and can not control my feelings of wanting to protect them..even yelling bothers me. My current dh has children and corporal discpline was something he and his ex wife used. I have never used corporal discipline with my children. The first time he went to spank one of his children was a horrible experience. I went into the mode of protector. He said later it was unlike anything he had ever seen. I jumped up and stood between them and was screaming at him to stop. He had not touched her yet and was not using a 'weapon' but was going to spank her with his hand. However, when his ex wife smacked her I had no reaction.
Basically, in my mind the male abuser is the one with the most power and the one who can hurt the most. Females do not. I understand the bear/tiger thing and do not know if I stated the difference in a way anyone could understand. But yes, there is a difference. Its about what you know to be true and what you don't trust. I know that a man is physically stronger and larger, I do not trust that. I had to learn to trust that he would not spank/abuse his dd but he also had to learn that corporal punishment causes me to feel physical symptoms, anxiety, sweating, fear even when it is not directed at me but at someone smaller than him. Females are smaller and do not pose the same threat to me.
K
