Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Difference between revisions

** Especially early in the series there's a tendency for [[Cat Fight]] to ensue whenever groups including women clash--probably the origin of the two-boys-one-girl convention, so that Kishimoto always had a girl to make any given girl fight, although as the world has become more entrenched and popular there has been a retreat from this tendency. For example, Akastuki only had Konan, and she never directly engaged the protagonists.

** Also, since they ''are'' [[Professional Killer|ninja]], even at the start any case where they used girl-hitting to establish bad character had some other nastiness trope in play, too--for example when Neji handed Hinata her ass, it was brutally unfair, a betrayal, and dereliction of duty, and would still have been had she been a boy of comparable skill.

** Jack Rakan seems to be like this too. Up against female opponents, he [[Defeat by Modesty|defeats]] them [[Panty Thief|by stealing their panties]]. Although that might be because he's a [[Dirty Old Man]]. [[Chivalrous Pervert|Or both...]] Although he ''did'' get serious later in the story. The results were <s>[[Curb Stomp Battle|not]]</s> [[Clothing Damage|pretty]].

* ''Natsuki Crisis'' Subverted/parodied. Natsuki's fellow karate club members claim that this is the reason they won't practice against her... but it's obvious that the ''real'' reason is that [[Action Girl|she can kick their butts]], and they're too scared.

** Only because it's too risky to be justified. He considers using physical force against Naomi Misora, for instance, but decides against it because it would be too likely for him to be seen doing so, or for him to make a mistake and let her escape, and that would really ruin his reputation as a model citizen. (It wouldn't have worked anyway: Misora was an expert martial artist... but Light didn't know that.)

* ''[[Kongoh Bancho]]'' Partially averted, where the protagonist Akira Kongoh has no problem fighting a girl, but often either underestimates them or intentionally holds back because of their gender. Although in both cases shown so far it's proven to be a rather bad idea, and he doesn't actually win until he goes all out.

** Shizuo, on the other hand, is a straight example, with rather tragic reasons for why: {{spoiler|through the majority of his adolescence, Shizuo tended to develop one-sided crushes on girls and women that inevitably ended with him trying to protect or save them... [[Hero with an F In Good|and accidentally hospitalizing]] [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|most of them in the process]]}}. The consequences drilled the idea of "hurting girls is bad" so deep into his head ([[Heroic Self-Deprecation|at the cost of any sort]] [[I Am a Monster|of self esteem he might have]]) that even his [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] can't stand against it.

* ''[[Change 123]]'' Played with. Most characters in this manga don't have a problem hitting girls, including a biker gang that [[Blood Knight|Hibiki]] must confront to save her [[Non-Action Guy]] [[Love Interest]]. After the other [[Split Personality]], [[Lady of War|Fujiko]], takes care of the underlings, Hibiki confronts the leader and puts him in the hospital for a few weeks. Much later, the gang leader's girlfriend asks them to beat up this annoying girl she ran into... [[Oh Crap|who happens to be Hibiki]]. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|The entire gang spontaneously decides they don't hit women]].

** oh and ''he'' gets in trouble - not because she's female but because she's higher in rank.

* The book ''[[Friday the 13th]]: Church of the Divine Psychopath'' has Captain Hobb, the leader of the strike team sent out to kill Jason, getting into a fight with a female member of the group named Samantha, who hates his guts and wants to take over the operation. While at first reluctant to fight back, Hobb says "screw it" after getting hit really hard one too many times and knocks Sam out with the combination of a [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|Boob Attack]] and knee to the face.

* In several books in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Valdemar]]'' setting, there is a sword named Need that cannot be used against a woman, even if its bearer will die if they can't defend themselves. Needless to say, this can cause problems. The reasons for this are different than the usual justification - Need's bearers are usually women themselves. The sword was forged specifically for the purpose of stopping violence against women.

* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|A Princess of Mars]]'', this is the rule among the Green Martians. However, Tars Tarkas warns a murderess:

*** Later in the same episode, Sisko (who knew the Dax symbiont's previous host, Curzon Dax), gets really frustrated with Jadzia's unwillingness to stand up for herself at her hearing. "Dammit, if you were still a man!"

** Another ''Deep Space 9'' episode ''Paradise Lost'' Odo breaks {{spoiler|Captain Sisko}} out of jail in Starfleet Headquarters. There are two guards in the room where the cell is located: one male, one female. He first punches the male guard, then does a sort of Vulcan neck pinch on the female guard.

* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[Get Smart]]'':

{{quote|'''Evil Female Agent''': You wouldn't hit a lady, would you?

** While Michael has issues hitting Fiona, {{spoiler|Thomas O'Neill clearly doesn't. When he kidnaps Fiona in "Long Way Back", he punches her multiple times in the face.}}

** In the episode "Friends and Enemies" Sam tries to warn a biker chick to quit hitting him and doesn't fight back at first, but he finally gets sick of getting beaten and clocks her right across the face.

* ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' Comes up from time to time in the old generation shows. The very first could fight women, but he had some issues with it. Fast forward to Decade, and we have a female Rider being summoned to fight off [[Kamen Rider Black]], since he's 'too honorable to hit a woman'.

** And Heisei Riders have absolutely no qualms about beating women kaijin up.

* ''[[The A-Team]]'' Face would never, ever hit a girl, but he once punched a girl in the jaw [[Playing with a Trope|on accident]] because he mistook her for one of the villain's [[Mook|Mooks]]. He felt bad about it.

* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' Not spoken outright, but in "After Hours" Chase goes to considerable lengths to warn Thirteen that he's going to move her out of the way when she refuses to allow him to take her stab victim, parolee friend to the hospital (even though she'll die if he doesn't). When she still refuses, he moves her out of the way without hurting her, prompting her to attack him. After several very weak looking punches and one that looked like it might have hurt, Chase easily overpowers her (with a distinct look of [[Oh Crap]] on her face as he does) and she ends up on the floor. Later in the episode, she's putting ice on her neck and he apologises for having hurt her - even though she nearly killed her friend and assaulted him in the process.

{{quote|'''Troy:''' Someone make her a dude so I can punch her!}}

* Played with in an episode of ''[[Roseanne]]'', when Dan is trying to explain to DJ why he got arrested for beating up Jackie's abusive boyfriend: