Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male): Difference between revisions

* During the a sell of a Virgin Mobile package, the company decided to make some commercials of a woman stalking a man. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpV7DyM4Zk0 In the commercials, the actress acts crazy and creepy.] Rightfully, men started to complain and the commercials were removed from most stations. Of course, if the situation was reversed, the commercials would have never been given the green light in the first place.

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', there are several cases of this. Almost everyone of either gender in Bleach is insanely violent in their free time, and it gets played for laughs. Guys are still almost always the victims.

** Also, one of the characters the Sket Dan help, [[Huge Schoolgirl|Koma-chan]], has a tendency to violently shove or throw people when she's embarrassed. Considering she's [[Charles Atlas Superpower|insanely strong]], this can have painful results, so much so that the group start referring to it as the "Koma-Cannon". Guess who's always on the receiving end? You guessed it, [[Butt Monkey|Bossun]].

** Kagura's abuse of Kyo is played for laughs in the series, even though it's ridiculously over the top.

* Shouko from ''[[Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu]]'' might be even worse than Louise, routinely tazing [[The Woobie|Yuuji]], [[Eye Poke|sticking her fingers in his eyes]] so he doesn't even look at other girls, and doing things like breaking his arm and calling it "holding hands" or breaking into his house because she felt like it (and then burning his porn), among others. What's more, the other characters actually believe they make a good couple and [[Shipper on Deck|try to pair them together]], and at the end, even Yuuji seems rather accepting of the idea. If Yuuji even did to Shouko 10% of the things she does to him, people would deride him as a [[Complete Monster]], but Shouko can keep doing this with no backlash whatsoever. Sure, it might be a comedy, but it's taken to a level you feel more pity for the guy than anything else, not to mention that Yuuji is far from accepting the idea of being with her. That entire episode dedicated to putting them together had him trying to run away from her. Every time he tried to flee from her and avoid Shoko resulted in his friends putting them together or framing him for stuff he didn't did only to make the situation worse. When the [[Jerkass]] couple continued to make a fool of themselves, Yuuji was generally trying to get them to win the contest because his friends rigged it to the point where no matter what he did, they would get the right answer. It wasn't until the end of the episode where he changed his mind about Shoko because the [[Jerkass]] couple continued to make fun of them both. Next episode, he's trying to run away from her. Final episode, his best friend sold him out to her and she forced him to sign a marriage contract. [[Stockholm Syndrome]] anyone?

* ''[[Seto no Hanayome]]'' subverts this trope. Nagasumi is attacked by his wife's bodyguard and her rival but never by his wife herself. ''She'' is a loving [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] who often has to protect him. Even her Rival only ever resorts to sexual harassment which is very mild compared to the brutal attempts of the male cast which included having a shark try to eat him. One of those males is his father-in-law. If Nagasumi's mother-in-law didn't keep her husband in line he wouldn't have lived to the series' conclusion.

* Sakura from ''[[Naruto]]'', [[Flanderization|but only in the anime]]. Fortunately for Naruto, she's not as bad in the manga.

*** The result: {{spoiler|Jiraiya had 6 broken ribs, both arms and legs broken as well as several ruptured organs for trying to peep on Tsunade. And let's not forget he counted it as one of 2 moments where he nearly died before he died for good}}

* In the hentai manga "Anette XXX" one of the sisters evokes this trope saying: "A sister can tease her brother if she wants too".

* Deconstructed in ''[[Manwha/Operaton Liberate Men|Operaton Liberate Men]].'' It is perfectly acceptable for women in the Para Kingdom to abuse men for perceived wrongs, or even for no reason at all. Nobody but Sooha, a foreigner, even bats an eye at the murdered corpse of a man. However, Sooha often ridicules the women for their abuse and allowing such a mindset to exist.

* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fic ''[[Fever Dreams]]'' many people just find it amusing when Misa stalks Light (or even consider him "lucky" to be stalked by a hot celebrity chick) and only when Misa gets really violent and crazy does anyone even ''consider'' calling the cops.

** Mat Cauthon is stalked, sexually harassed and eventually raped at knife-point by the much older queen of Altara. It's played for laughs and the female characters consider this his just desserts for being a flirt.

* Averted in ''Angel'': he's shown to have no problem punching Buffy if she punches him, he even points out that she's the stronger one. This is also played with in season six of [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]], with Buffy's treatment of Spike. [[Destructive Romance|He may not have been a clean, innocent victim,]] but it is hard to deny that Buffy initiated almost all of the verbal and physical abuse, and was a fair bit harsher. Numerous characters, including both Buffy and Spike, point out how over the top, unfair her treatment of him is. Buffy is not portrayed as innocent in any of these events and some of them set Spike up as being used, and rather unhappy about it.

** Him being a [[Jerkass]] makes it hard to feel sorry for Jane when he gets hit.

* Tyler Perry's House of Payne spends an episode on domestic abuse featuring a woman being beaten by her husband, a man being repeatedly stomped and electrocuted by his wife and two other women while they tell a 911 operator he's trying to kill them, and Delante being beaten within an inch of his life by two women he's dating. Only one of these is ever treated as domestic abuse or anything short of hilarious.

* In one episode of ''[[Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]'', Will goes on a date with a pretty girl who at first seems rather sweet. However, at the restaurant, she completely changes, speaking to him in a rude, snide voice, she tells him where they will go to college, what jobs they will both have, ''how many kids they will have and what genders'', she tells him what to eat and what ''not'' to eat (saying that if he orders cottage cheese now he'll have a heart attack at middle age and leave her with the kids), and when he looks at the waitress to place his order, she yells at both him ''and'' the waitress. Later, she chooses his wardrobe and buys him a beeper with the obvious intent of keeping track of him 24/7 (in real life, behavior like this is a ''huge'' indicator of an abusive relationship). When Will tells his aunt and uncle about this, they shrug it off, saying that the dictating what jobs and how many children they'll have is a sign that she has goals, and her getting angry over him looking at another girl, and telling him what he can and can't eat is just proof that she doesn't want to lose him. By the episode's end, she's hanging on his every word, eagerly promising to handwrite his class notes and send out his mail--and with one disapproving look from him, apologizing and quickly saying she'll deliver it ''door to door''. This has major [[Unfortunate Implications]]: Will is told, after the girl becomes Carlton's doormat, that when a girl acts abusive like she did, it's his job to "man up", and show her who the man is in the relationship. Overall, the way it's delivered comes off as more "it's your fault if you're abused because you didn't yell at your abuser enough."

* In ''[[Glee]]'', Quinn is constantly verbally abusive towards Finn, repeatedly telling him he's stupid, attempting to control his hobbies and activities. She is also willing to let Finn raise and pay for a child that isn't even his (he's in the dark about this fact), pretty massively affecting his life. When he eventually finds out the kid isn't his and dumps her, it's clear that [[Deconstruction|we're supposed to see him in the right and her as a bitch]]. Despite that she and Finn resumed their relationship for some time the next season.

** And yet another example of playing it straight occured last season, when a man was raped by several women, and Elliot is reluctant to believe him or go after the offenders. Later on there was an episode with a teenage boy who revealed he had been repeatedly molested as a little boy by his babysitter, and both subvert this trope by reacting with due horror and concern.

** It's very complicated because Rory is also The Last Centurion, a 2000 year old figure who has written himself into Earth's legends as the ultimate [[Badass]] (which he lives up to on several occasions). Amy is a tough girl but any retaliation he might take against her might be seen as unnecessarily cruel.

** Played straight by a large part of the fandom however with that moment being listed as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

* Virginia Grey Sylar's {{spoiler|adopted}} [[Wicked Stepmother|mother]] {{spoiler|[[Tangled Family Tree|also his aunt]]}} on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' serves as (part of) Sylar's [[Freudian Excuse]] as to why he became a head-chopping [[Serial Killer]]. It's telling that in a moment of conscience Sylar would sooner call his ''[[Arch Enemy]]'' then call his mother. She was at least very emotionally abusive to her son to the point where he developed a massive inferiority complex [[I Just Want to Be Special|needing to be "Special"]]... [[Power At a Price|no matter the cost.]] In their scene together she's seen slapping him and when she learns of his powers, she reacts much like the mother in ''[[Carrie]]'': she calls him a demon and tries to kill him with a pair of scissors.

** Shulz also went on record in several interviews as saying that while a boy bullying a girl wouldn't be seen as funny, the gender reversal in a girl bullying a boy would be seen as funny.

* Played for laughs in [http://www.gocomics.com/luann/2000/04/18 one strip of Luann], where apparently the classic sawing-a-girl-in-half trick is seen as violence against women. When Bernice suggests sawing ''Gunther'' in half, the counselor doesn't see a problem with it.

* Toyed with in [[Homestuck]], though not so much in-story as in the [[Fan Dumb|fandom's interpretations of it.]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Vriska]] harasses and torments [[Extreme Doormat|Tavros]] from the very start of the troll's arc, having {{spoiler|paralyzed him}} and then {{spoiler|demanding he [[Crosses the Line Twice|apologize for being handicapped]] }} because he was ''weighing her down.'' This is all presented up-front without comment, since most of the trolls are somewhat [[Blue and Orange Morality|morally dubious]] by human standards. But some fans have responded that Vriska's actions were justified, since she was [[Cruel to Be Kind|'only trying to help.']] But [[Double Standard|if the genders were reversed]], most readers would find Vriska's psychological abuse to be outright unacceptable, opening up a whole minefield of [[Unfortunate Implications]].

* Janet Barch from ''[[Daria]]'' is the pure, [[Kick Chick|unadulterated]], research-grade form of this trope. The show portrays her [[Early Installment Weirdness|as being violently unhinged in early episodes]], which is where most of the actual abuse is confined to. Later episodes portray her as something of a [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] as she begins a [[Pitbull Dates Puppy|relationship]] with [[Hippie Teacher|Mr. O'Neill]], which is portrayed as being weird but not necessarily dysfunctional. ("The F Word" does seem to imply some ''consensual'' "abuse" in their sex life, though.)

* Occurred on ''[[Total Drama Island]]'', but ten times ''worse'' during ''[[Seasonal Rot|Total Drama Action]]'' as Courtney ascended to [[Jerk Sue]] status. She has kicked her love interest, Duncan, in the crotch numerous times just in order to win competitions, and sometimes just for flirting with her when she was in a bad mood.

* Averted in the ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode "Leanne's Saga". When Luanne's mother, Leanne, is released from jail, she stays with the Hills. She starts dating Bill. Things aren't too bad at first, even though she does show some gold digger tendencies, with her getting him to spend all his money for her, but after she succumbs to her alcoholism again, she starts to abuse Bill both physically and verbally. Even if the audience may be amused, the characters in the show are apalled by her behavior and treatment towards Bill. Leanne was also originally in jail for stabbing Luanne's father with a fork, and that he subsequently moved to an oil rig, refusing to come back to the mainland until Hank faxes him Leanne's death certificate. (This was later [[Retcon|RetConned]] to him being in jail too, but still applies to the episode in question.)

** There was an advice column letter in ''The Toronto Star'' a few years ago on this very subject. A male abuse victim wrote in saying that his wife would often punch him during arguments, and that he didn't know what to do. He also mentioned he had several male friends who suffered abuse from their wives or girlfriends as well, including one who was ''put in the hospital as a result''. None of them seem to have even considered going to the police, or ''leaving''. And the letter really, ''really'' heavily emphasized that the man would never hit his wife -- he repeated this point so many times, the letter almost sounded like ''he'' was the one apologizing for something. So, the (female) columnist's advice? "Remember that your wife might be under a lot of pressure at work, ''avoid assigning blame'', and consider couples therapy."

* Nobody seemed to suspect Dave Pelzer's mother of child abuse for ''quite awhile'', frequently blaming Dave Pelzer's injuries on nobody but himself. Amusingly, when his brother Richie became the scapegoat, nobody also seemed to step in or even notice anything was up.