Most of society, including many posting here, misunderstand the legal definition of "assault" as it exists in most states.
An assault involves no physical contact.
Two men getting into the face of one another during an argument, but never touching for example would often be an assault.
Assault is the threat of force, or perceived threat of force, without any actual force used.
Actual physical contact is a "battery" an entirely different charge, and what most of society including the media erroneously calls an "assault".
Most of the population under the legal definition assaults other people at some point during some argument, they simply are not prosecuted for it unless it is serious or involves a weapon.
They argue forcefully enough to cause someone else or the person they are arguing with to feel intimidated. That is an assault. No physical contact.
The difference with domestic situations is state law in many states mandates prosecution for any domestic violence, so even scenarios so petty that they would never result in charges when involving most people are prosecuted when they involve spouses, boyfriend/girlfriend, or ex spouse/ex boyfriend/grilfriend.
This means someone is often prosecuted for domestic violence for things so petty they would have never resulted in charges or an arrest involving anyone else.
However even batteries resulting in conviction can be minor. A man grabbing a wife or girlfriend's wrists while she is throwing a violent tantrum until she calms down for example.
That is likely to result in bruises on the wrist with the pressure necessary to keep them from pulling away, and as a result create clear evidence for prosecution.
Women also bruise much easier than men, as anyone that knows athletic women can attest to. Your typical athletic woman gets covered in bruises that men involved in the same activities never get.
There is even a scientific explanation I won't go into for this.
What this means however is even when a woman is the aggressor, she will often have the bruises and resulting "evidence" used for conviction. Just pushing (a battery) a woman attacking you away will likely result in bruising. Blocking a punch or slap is likely to leave a serious bruise on her arm while her strikes will often leave no clear evidence on a male.
In most situations, whether it is the man or the woman who is the aggressor, even in situations where the man only tries to minimize damage and never strikes, it is the woman that will have the marks, the evidence used to convict the other during prosecution.
This while society and the media actually encourages spiteful violence and property damage by angry or scorned women, or those whose honor has been insulted.
The slap to a man's face (battery) is still common in movies and television and even portrayed as ladylike.
Damaging property of a partner is encouraged in movies, television shows, and song.
Popular songs win grammys with a chorus like "Cause I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both head lights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires..."
We have a society encouraging violence and property damage if done by women, yet laws that remove a guaranteed right for life for even trying to stop such things, or even arguing verbally with no physical contact in too intimidating a fashion.
