Which I did... Unfortunately. I'm not proud of it. About a year into our relationship she started slapping me, then punching me, then just flat out beating the fuck out of me. First just at our house. Then in public in front our friends.

One time we went to a casino and we stayed in the hotel. After she went to sleep I went back to the casino and spent 20 of MY dollars. When I got back to the room she asked where I was and she flipped her shit. I remember she threw me around by the hair and was punching me in the ribs and face. Hell... Earlier that night we were in a friends car and he was talking about pornstars that he likes. He asked me who was my favorite. I didn't even get a whole name out before I was halfway pulled into the backseat by my hair and was being hit in the face. In front my friend and his girlfriend.

These types of beatings went on for a whole year before one day I was fed up and retaliated. I remember the first time I hit her back we were going to a basketball game. She hopped in her friends car and I didn't want to make my buddy take the ~10 minute ride by himself so I started walking to his car with him. At this point she flys out of her friends car at full speed and ofcourse grabs me by the hair, holds my head low, and starts punching me in the face (see a pattern emerging?). I was so embarrassed, I knew all our friends were watching. So in the spur of the moment I gave her a half force jab in the ribs. She immediately took off running. The entire game she was texting me things like "What kind of man are you to hit a lady? You're a pussy. Ect." But from that point on, every time she assaulted me I would just stick her once, only once, only while she was hitting me.

Fast forward a year after we broke up. She told all my friends I used to hit her. Some understand why i did it because she would beat me in front of them. Some tell me I'm fucked up for it. One time I met a new girl and we started dating. Unfortunately my ex told all of her people that I used to beat her and this got to my new girl. She left me because I was labeled as a "woman beater". My new girlfriend is wonderful. She found out a year into our relationship that I used to "beat" my ex. Luckily we were in love. She didn't believe it for a second. I wanted to tell her it was a total lie. I figured the truth was better. My girlfriend has never hit me. I would never hit my current girlfriend.

TLDR: My ex beat me constantly for a solid year before I ever hit her back. One light jab only when she was beating the crap out of me. After we split she told everybody I "beat" her. Because of a single light punch to her ribs in self defense while of having my hair pulled out and repeated punches to the face resulting in a black eye once, sometimes a busted lip, sometimes a bloody nose, I was labelled the violent aggressor, the woman beater. Even though I had witnesses, even though I would have visible injuries while she never even had so much as a light bruise, it still effected my friendships and future relationships.