Obviously no idea what the truth is here, but it's not THAT outlandish of a concept that she instigated the violence ... at least some of the time.

I had a relationship once where I absolutely never, ever instigated violence and the worst I did was bearhug her so she had to stop hitting me. She probably hit me, kicked me, or threw something at me at least 10 times overall over a number of years.

It's not like women are 'above it' is all I'm saying.

This was decades ago, I don't remember the particulars of the TV movie.

While male-on-female violence is grossly over-represented, female-on-male violence does occur, like you experienced.

There is also gays beating on each other, lesbians, etc.

Violence is a part of our culture, even if we disapprove of it strongly.

Sometimes it's not just one person that's doing all of this.