Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Difference between revisions

Sometimes the reason is pure [[Hero With Bad Publicity|PR]]: Even if a guy is justified and doesn't mind hitting a girl, chances are he will be seen as a thug if he does. [[Truth in Television]], many a man defending himself in real life has been attacked by bystanders, mobs and even the police upon being seen hitting a girl, context be damned.

 

 

'''Remember, aversions go under [[Would Hit a Girl]].'''

** There was one episode of the ''[[Inuyasha]]'' anime in which Kagura was brutalized by Koga, and I mean fist to face, knee to stomach fighting. I mean, she had killed hundreds of his friends so what did you expect? But in the end she utterly destroyed him in that fight, and he only got out alive because of Inuyasha and his friends interfering.

*** One wonders if there might not be a bit of a [[Moral Dissonance]] about the male heroes not being allowed to really fight female villains and the fact that they were all trying their best to slaughter a small child and a baby for multiple arcs. Though [[Creepy Child|they both deserved it]], and [[Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work|Naraku's eventually the one who kills the baby as well.]]

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' Kuwabara is revealed to have "don't fight girls" as part of his personal moral code. He even refuses to fight the demon Miyuki during the Rescue Yukina arc, despite the fact that she is both deliberately challenging him and quite offended by this attitude. Yusuke, meanwhile, promptly steps up and reveals that [[Would Hit a Girl|he has no problems with fighting girls]], declaring that he doesn't understand what the problem is with refusing to fight somebody who wants to fight you just because they're a different sex and proceeding to brutally finish her off. In the unedited dub, after beating her senseless, Kuwabara starts to protest Yusuke's actions in outrage, for which Yusuke reluctantly explains that Miyuki isn't a woman at all. She's a female-dressed [[Transsexual]] (presumably male to female, though comments made could be taken as making her to be a female to male) with breasts and male sexual organs, leading to the following amusing quote:

{{quote| '''Yusuke''': The family jewels have ''not'' been stolen.}}

*** He tried to hurt her though at the start of the fight. Then, till the very end, she was not even tangible.

** In Robin's flashback, she witnesses Spandine roughly tossing her mother Olvia to the ground, and thinks that it is a cruel thing to do to a woman. Which is ''nothing'' compared to what his son Spandam does to her later on; Robin takes such a terrible beating from him that [[The Dragon|Rob Lucci]] [[Even Evil Has Standards|is disgusted]].

** Played with, if not subverted, in Impel Down when [[Transvestite|Emperio Ivankov]] uses his hormone-based powers to turn himself female before facing the prison's top female officer.

*** Can't be a subversion because the only way to deal with female enemies if you [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]] is with a [[Cat Fight]], so by changing himself into a woman to fight Sadi-chan, he's crossing into a [[Designated Girl Fight|whole different trope]].

** 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.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': Greed refuses to fight Izumi, saying "I don't fight women, it's not my style." This doesn't stop him from making the side of his face as hard as diamond when Izumi tries to punch him, causing her to break several of her fingers.

* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' The Deimon Devil Bats go up against the Teikoku Alexanders, whose quarterback is female. Hiruma senses misplaced chivalrous intent in his team and cuts the problem off at the knees by making up a story to them about Karin, the female quarterback-- her name's really Karinrou and she's a man, so you'd better go all out on her. It works.

** Then again, given [[The Red Sonja|she was dueling in part to find a husband]]... though if they had duelled anyway... [[Les Yay|it would've been HOT]].

*** Even worse, when Taniya activated a card that made images of the duelists strike each other and Jaden thought he'd fight her for real and tried to invoke the trope, she didn't take it for an insult.

** Both subverted and played straight in a fairly recent ''[[The Punisher|Punisher]]'' Christmas Special (2005, I think), wherein a [[Dark Action Girl|hitwoman]] is hired by the wives of New York mafiosos killed by the Punisher. She has a decoy gun down civilians at Times Square on New Years Eve to draw Frank out, then they engage in brutal fight. Frank wins, and the hitwoman reveals she has a bizarre [[Stalker With a Crush]] attitude towards Castle. She reveals her employers, Frank apparently kills her by tossing her out a window, and then confronts the wives. The lead one pulls a gun and is killed, while the others plead with Castle, who agrees to let them go, as long as they leave the country after donating money to the victims of the Times Square massacre.

* Played straight, but for laughs in the non-canon [[Planetary]]/[[Batman]] crossover comic. Several versions of Batman are encountered, including the Adam West one, who uses "Bat-Female-Villain-Repellent" on Jakita. The other versions have much less trouble hitting her.

* Batman villain the Cavalier prides himself on being a man of the highest moral fibre; not only does he refuse to harm women, but upon seeing a woman in peril he will help Batman save her, and has several times interrupted one of his own crimes to help an old woman with her luggage.

* ''[[What Could Have Been]]'' by [[Don Rosa]]. [http://personal.sdf.bellsouth.net/d/a/danshane/scroopage/los292_2.htm Sketches for Chapter 8] of ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'' show scrooge displaying this attitude toward Goldie, leaving a young Elvira Duck (Grandma Duck) to take her on. Fortunately, in the actual story, Scrooge's and Goldie's relationship ultimately averts this trope in ''The Prisoner of White Agony Creek'', albeit while using a [[Sexy Discretion Shot|Sexy Discre-]], uh, [[Gory Discretion Shot]]... well, [[Destructo-Nookie|both]], actually.

* ''Force 10 From Navarone'' A variation appears when the [[Reverse Mole]] tells [[Harrison Ford]] and [[Robert Shaw]] they have to hit her to make their escape from [[Those Wacky Nazis]] look genuine. They both balk, but finally comply. Then she berates them for not hitting her hard enough.

* ''[[True Romance]]'' An early example of a full aversion, in which a hitman repeatedly punches the female protagonist full-on in the face--hard enough to knock her down.

* ''[[Godzilla Final Wars (Film)|Godzilla Final Wars]]'', [[Badass Normal|Gordon]] receives the whole "You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" routine; only to pause, smile, ball a fist, and reply "Yeah."

*** No, you're right he slaps her, she said this ''after'' she was fighting him, making this more of a [[Finishing Move]].

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''The Traitor's Hand'', the colonel of the Tallarn regiment refuses to participate in an interregimental competition of unarmed combat because the women in the Vallahan regiment would participate, which is "unseemly." Whereupon their regimental champion was "promptly and informally challenged" by a female Vallahan.

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

* ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]] Drugs & Dominoes'' features a humorous scene in which the Gandor brothers, a [[Power Trio]] of [[Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters]], try to figure out a way to punish a waitress from one of their speakeasies for breaking one of their [[The Mafia|family]]'s rules. They can't just pardon her, but they have very strong opinions on the subject of violence against women: "Raising a hand against a woman is the worst!" The final solution is to force on her a (rather nice) [[Traumatic Haircut]], at which point [[Heroic Sociopath|Claire]] wonders how they can [[Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters|even bother calling themselves Mafia]].

* 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.

* Maurice "Boscoe" Boscorelli of ''[[Third Watch]]'' never hit a woman. In his case it was a result of growing up watching his mothers abusive relationships.

* ''[[MacGyver]]'' In the episode, "Phoenix Under Siege," Mac Gyver has a fight with a female bomber. Well, not exactly. She does all the hitting, he doesn't even try to hit her and she eventually plummets to her death after missing during an attempted flying kick. By going out through the window.

* ''[[Batman (TV)|Batman]]'' the 1960s series. The villains' girlfriends never got involved in the fights, Batgirl never got hit, and in one especially goofy moment, the villain uses a ''gang of schoolgirls'' to capture Robin, knowing that he's 'too much of a gentleman' to hit a woman.

** Revealing exception: In "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra," Batgirl actually takes several punches... all from invisible opponents.

** 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 [[Villain Protagonist]] Hunter Ravenwood of [[Suicide for Hire]] claims that [[Even Evil Has Standards|"I draw the line at the unwarranted violent abuse of the fairer sex."]] This does not stop him accepting female clients of the eponymous business, however, nor did it stop him from planning the most grotesque death yet for a female client. {{spoiler|His plan involved, in Arcturus' words, "having metal hooks shoved up [her] ass to forcibly remove [her] innards". When Arcturus argued that this was too close to rape, Hunter amended the plan and shoved the hooks down her throat instead.}} Evidence suggests he tries not to think of the clients as people in the first place.

* Parodied in ''[[Girly]]'' in [http://girlyyy.com/go/511 this strip].

* Played straight AND averted in [http://gunshowcomic.com/347 this] [[Gunshow]] comic

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' when the [[Super Villain]] Crushestro (who normally kills his enemies by crushing their skulls with his bare hands) [[Even Evil Has Standards|refuses to do so to a female opponent]]. [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20101111 Instead he proposes a much gorier solution.]

* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'': An episode has Timmy and his grandfather transported to the world of classic cartoons. When Vicky tries to crash the party and complete her evil plan, Timmy can't hit her because in this era of cartoons, a man couldn't hit a woman. In response, Timmy merely wishes for his fairy godparents to [[Gender Bender|turn Vicky into a man]]. Problem solved!

** In another episode, when Mrs. Turner as [[Action Mom|Mighty Mom]] faces one of the Nega Chin's henchmen, he refuses to face her because he doesn't fight girls. She retorts with "I'm not a girl! I'm a soccer mom!" and hits him with soccer balls.

* ''[[Futurama]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this in "Where No Fan Has Gone Before":

{{quote| '''Shatner:''' There's no right way to hit a woman.<br />

[[Category:Double Standard]]

[[Category:Wouldnt Hit A Girl]]