Dumai's Wells situation?

Only two of them were contemplating it. Just re-read the scene.

And contemplating something does not necessarily mean liking the something.

 

Though in a situation of a stranger hurting a known person, most people might more likely protect the known person than the stranger.

I think it can be said though that neither has the unhealthy sick obsession that Rand seems to exhibit?

Not sure about Rand seeing women as weak/harmless.

 

Lews Therin might not necessarily have been Rand's previous life.

The prophecies seem to imply that the soul has been born many times. Dragon Reborn header

Also, a number of the memories Rand received at the top of Dragonmount might have come from this cycle. Gathering Storm Chapter 50

 

Not sure about Lews Therin's life contributing to Rand's reason.

Rand seemed to have the opinion before Lews Therin came into his head. Even before he accepted that he is Lews Therin reborn.

 

 

His upbringing might be a more probable reason. Many Two Rivers men seem to dislike hurting women.

The exact same Two Rivers men that were contemplating brutally executing unarmed Aes Sedai they were holding prisoner? I think you're fantasizing a bit about the orthodoxy of their belief to protect women.

Rand merely has a borderline obsessive compulsion which probably stems from trauma or from lunacy. He latches onto the obsession in a sense to stay lucid or to stave off a trauma.

Also it is a sign of superiority and contempt towards women. He is equating their status to that of an infant. It is a typical chauvinistic and downright masochist attitude that was heavily combated by feminist in the 1970s. Rands attitude can be summed up in modern terms best with "get back into the kitchen, woman."

Rands obsession is a sign of his mental instability. It's probably all a traumatized left over of the cold-blooded murder of Ilyena which still rests deep in his psyche. He is merely objectifying women as his vast inferior by likening them to weak, harmless beings that much be nurtured and protected lest they perish. Rand simply suffers from a very extreme form of masochism and chauvinism that probably has its roots in the traumatic murder of the wife of his previous life.