The fear of being locked in a relationship that exhibits domestic abuse suggests to me that sexism needs to be tackled on two fronts equally -- empowering women psychologically, socially and economically; and reforming men, or rather our society's perception of what masculinity should entail.
My current theory regarding the male side of sexism is that men often lack an ability to empathize with women. There's a sense of "The Other" that gets in the way thanks to sheer biology. When a man talks about being Pro-Life or Pro-Choice he is forced to think about and justify his position in abstract terms for lack of a womb; pregnancy has a 0% chance of happening to him, so he cannot possibly fathom the hopes, dreams, and fears every woman has with regard to the phenomenon of reproduction. Only women can truly argue from the gut on this matter. Similar observations could be made about other aspects of sexual relations between the sexes.
The problem of "The Other" also extends to everyday social interaction. If a man hits on a waitress, or worse yet, suddenly wraps his arm around her waist from out of the blue, he may be doing so with the notion that he's actually paying her a huge compliment. Since patriarchal society teaches men to be all sex, all the time, we would feel psychologically invigorated if a complete stranger of the opposite sex invaded our personal space like that. And that's if he bothers to even rationalize his action; although it isn't codified anywhere I can point to, there's also the strong cultural impression that men are simply entitled to women's bodies, period. It's the sum total of every book and movie featuring a male protagonist who has what amounts to a one night stand, and every male politician caught talking about the female lobbyist he "spanked" the previous night. The seduction community and the advice typically given on AskMen.com embody this message.
So, that's my brief treatise on the problem of "The Other" that's become a central theme in my own feminist musings. The basic gist is that feminism's goals can be accomplished best if men are just as wrapped up in women's studies as women are; how else are we supposed to know "what it's like for a girl," to borrow a phrase from Madonna? A guy like Chris Brown, who flies off the handle in a rage and just beats the everliving snot out of his significant other, does so because in that moment, he has forgotten that she is human like himself. I would be interested to know what critiques and additional observations other guys have on this topic, and its repercussions for the future course of feminism.