Is it okay her boyfriend pushed her in anger?

To the OP, as you are hearing it second hand it is always difficult to know the actual circumstances. That makes it next to impossible to fairly judge anyone's actions or intentions.

To the general question; I am a firm believer that a man should never hit a lady. I am also a firm believer that you should defend yourself and not be a victim to anyone, including a female. Do not confuse the two, a lady will never strike or try to inflict physical harm; where as, a female may. I certainly hope I am never in a situation where it is necessary, but if I were being assaulted, I would take whatever measures that were necessary to defend myself; even against a female.

Man or woman doesn't matter. The person who escalates a verbal confrontation to a physical one is always in the wrong, and anyone who has a tendency to do that is not boyfriend/girlfriend material.

If she was coming at him aggressively then he had the right to push her.

ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDING ME?!?!?

*smh* NO NO NO NO.. absolutly not in any way shape or form. This is NOT acceptable in any way..

^^^^
THIS! Man or woman, pushing your significant other is NOT ok. NOT ok. Not ok. Having grown up with an abusive parent, there is no instance where a push is ok, that I can think of, unless you are trying to save someone from an oncoming bus, train, car, etc. A push in anger is never ok in my book.

This is NOT ok.

No one has the "right" to put their hands on anyone else. Self defense is a touchy claim since some places do not have self defense laws. It is not okay, though I saw in some other responses, you got the information second hand and there is always two sides to everything, if not more. My recommendation is for you to be a friend to you friend and offer to be a shelter, not legal advice or a relationship counselor. Some vitcims accept domestic violence as a way of life, enjoy the drama of being a victim, or truly feel like they cannot find an escape and will tolerate it....other "victims" aren't victims at all but left out the part where they are actually the agressor in the relationship. There is no right or wrong answer to a situation that didn't involve you, but Domestic Violence is never an acceptable way to live.

Never, NEVER is that ok. I have been there and little things like that turned into big things and one day I found myself bruised up, thinking I had a broken arm and locking myself and my kids in a room waiting for help to come. She needs to get away from this person now and never look back.

She had no right to put his hands on him. Her aggressive move may have been a repeat performance of HER pass aggression -- you don't know. If it was, he had a right to push her away if he could back away fast enough.

However, he pushed her TWICE so he is definitely an abuser. If she doesn't cut him off, she is a masochist because the guy WILL repeat this and escalate the abuse. If you care about this woman, encourage her to get into therapy IMMEDIATELY.

not acceptable he's a bully, and the law say's it's assault..

Rarely ok to push or hit a man, and never ok to push or hit a women as far as I am concerned. Restraining if they are being aggressive is about as far as I think is acceptable and even that must be reasonable ie, holding wrists or shoulders, never more.

In my book any man who is violent towards a woman is a coward, however provoked, but that's just me. I never argues with my ex, but if I had I would not for one second have considered using physical force against her.

God help the man that ever pushes or strikes one of my daughters. That is all.

It is NEVER OK to put your hands on someone, period. And It's NEVER OK to strike first, even if you feel threatened. Legally, the court would side with your friend because to the judge, it;'s all about who hit first

In Scotland it's actually about a 3 step test and whether the force you responded with was deemed acceptable for the situation. So even if she never hit him, but came at him aggressively and with intent, merely pushing her away would not be abuse but self defence.

England is similar. You are allowed to use 'reasonable force' in any situation in which you feel threatened. Killing has been justified in extreme cases where someone felt their life was in danger (though I've never heard of such a case of domestic abuse).

Yeah all the people quoting the 'law' and saying it's legally assualt and blah de blah are irritating me - #lawstudentproblems.

I think that if women are going to fight like men, they should be treated as such. But that is probably just me... the first push seems warranted...the second, no. But if I saw a girl come at her boyfriend ready to fight and he pushed her out of the way, then good for him.

I will say that, unless a woman physically attacks a man, there's no reason to lay a hand on her.

ETA: I also don't think it should escalate. I'm don't support abuse, obviously, but it's stupid that women can hit men but if a man pushes a woman to get her off then he's the bad guy

this, 100%

Hayle to the nah!!! It's never okay!

That's called abuse and she shouldn't tolerate it. NO ONE has the right to put their hands on another person, guy OR girl.

From some of these replies you can tell the people who have NEVER been in an abusive relationship.