It could be a result of how primates have evolved. For males increasing standard deviation in traits makes it more likely that they are among the few top males that can mate with multiple females. For female being more robust ensures maximum number of children.
Women have both glass ceiling and glass floor. There are far less successful women, but there are also far less women living in the streets.
Many biologists study sex and it's one of the most fascinating questions out there. The general theory is that producing males allows the organism to try out some really wacky stuff.
You can't play around too much with females. If your children are female and they can't reproduce then that's the end of your line. So the selective pressure on female offspring being good is high.
It's a different story for males. You only need one good male and you're set. So if you produce 10 males, 6 might be average, 2 exceptional, and 2 complete failures (in evolutionary terms). Those 2 exceptional specimens will pick up the slack for the others. Not only that, but those two exceptional specimens will reproduce more than any set of males that were all average (like a set of females). So not only is there no selective pressure to produce 100% "good" males, there is a strong advantage to producing a few exceptional males.
The trouble is, modern feminists only look at the few exceptional males (the CEOs, Nobel prize winners etc.) and whine about it. The other end of the spectrum, the men on the street or committing suicide, are completely invisible to them.
Latest studies into domestic abuse also hint that there is almost equal parity between men and women as both the victim and the abuser.
Not that emotional abuse is not a problem; I dare to say that we men are not sufficiently educated to cope with that, personally I got enough of 1980's "women do no wrong" feminism flavor. I started to see my father's POV when I became husband and father myself - big wake-up call. But physical violence is still more of a problem.
Buy a gun, learn how to use it, and carry it.
I don't mean to bring gun (control|rights) into this conversation lightly. I'm the father of two young daughters and I'm extremely cognizant of the fact that they will likely always be physically weaker than the men in their lives. Firearms make physical size almost completely irrelevant.
But, you're wrong. Far more men than women are perpetrators of domestic violence, and far more women than men are the victims of domestic violence. This is true for crimes of sexual violence, and for stalking.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization — National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6308a1.htm?s_cid...
Intimate Partner Violence:
> The lifetime and 12-month prevalence of rape by an intimate partner for women was an estimated 8.8% and 0.8%, respectively (Table 6). Nationally, an estimated 15.8% of women experienced other forms of sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, while an estimated 2.1% of women experienced other forms of sexual violence by a partner in the 12 months before taking the survey. The lifetime prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner was an estimated 31.5% among women and in the 12 months before taking the survey, an estimated 4.0% of women experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. An estimated 22.3% of women experienced at least one act of severe physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes. With respect to individual severe physical violence behaviors, being slammed against something was experienced by an estimated 15.4% of women, and being hit with a fist or something hard was experienced by 13.2% of women. In the 12 months before taking the survey, an estimated 2.3% of women experienced at least one form of severe physical violence by an intimate partner. The lifetime and 12-month prevalence of stalking by an intimate partner for women was an estimated 9.2% and 2.4%, respectively. Finally, an estimated 47.1% of women experienced at least one act of psychological aggression by an intimate partner during their lifetimes; an estimated 14.2% of women experienced some form of psychological aggression in the 12 months preceding the survey.
> Nationally, an estimated 0.5% of men experienced rape by an intimate partner during their lifetimes. However, the case count for men reporting rape by an intimate partner in the preceding 12 months was too small to produce a statistically reliable prevalence estimate. An estimated 9.5% of men experienced other forms of sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, while an estimated 2.1% of men experienced other forms of sexual violence by an intimate partner in the 12 months before taking the survey. The lifetime prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner was an estimated 27.5% for men, and in the 12 months before taking the survey, an estimated 4.8% of men experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. An estimated 14.0% of men experienced at least one act of severe physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes. With respect to individual severe physical violence behaviors, being hit with a fist or something hard was experienced by an estimated 10.1% of men, and 4.6% of men have been kicked by an intimate partner. In the 12 months before taking the survey, an estimated 2.1% of men experienced at least one form of severe physical violence by an intimate partner. The lifetime and 12-month prevalence of stalking by an intimate partner for men was an estimated 2.5% and 0.8%, respectively. Finally, an estimated 46.5% of men experienced at least one act of psychological aggression by an intimate partner during their lifetimes; an estimated 18.0% of men experienced some form of psychological aggression in the 12 months preceding the survey.
Sexual violence:
> Results: In the United States, an estimated 19.3% of women and 1.7% of men have been raped during their lifetimes; an estimated 1.6% of women reported that they were raped in the 12 months preceding the survey. The case count for men reporting rape in the preceding 12 months was too small to produce a statistically reliable prevalence estimate. An estimated 43.9% of women and 23.4% of men experienced other forms of sexual violence during their lifetimes, including being made to penetrate, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact, and noncontact unwanted sexual experiences. The percentages of women and men who experienced these other forms of sexual violence victimization in the 12 months preceding the survey were an estimated 5.5% and 5.1%, respectively.
Stalking:
> In the United States, an estimated 15.2% of women (18.3 million women) have experienced stalking during their lifetimes that made them feel very fearful or made them believe that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed (Table 4). In addition, an estimated 4.2% of women (approximately 5.1 million women) were stalked in the 12 months before taking the survey.
> Nationally, an estimated 5.7% of men (or nearly 6.5 million) have experienced stalking victimization during their lifetimes, while an estimated 2.1% of men (or 2.4 million) were stalked in the 12 months before taking the survey
> Among female stalking victims, an estimated 88.3% were stalked by only male perpetrators; an estimated 7.1% had only female perpetrators. Among male stalking victims, almost half (an estimated 48.0%) were stalked by only male perpetrators while a similar proportion (an estimated 44.6%) were stalked by only female perpetrators.
But like I said - if you use funding to report violence against men, you won't ever get any more funding. So, you can bring out all the statistics funded for violence against women, but you have a systemic imbalance here. And there is sufficient evidence that it needs further investigation.
So far I'm the only one who's posted a link to a CDC study and it says precisely the opposite of what you've said.
While I agree than men are more prone to violent tendencies than women, as a group, I don't know that I agree that this predisposition is a weakness.
I read once that physical violence perpetrated by men upon women was actually NOT that common some centuries ago. Some say it is a reaction to urban/dull life; when life was more violent outside, everybody behaved inside the house. I take this with a huge grain of salt, but it an interesting hypothesis.
I'm a woman, and I don't want to be together with just a copy of myself that happens to have an extra collection of dangly bits in the pants ;-)
I acknowledge that there are physical/mental differences between us, and the goal should be to complement each other, not make men more "feminine" or whatever.
Actually men are more aggressive. The issue is you don't always get good things out of a particular trait. Violence is negative outcome of aggression.
On the positive note, aggression and its many forms can make you proactive, driven and a range of other things that are also very crucial for success.