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{{trope}}
{{cleanup|The page image is a "Pretty Much [[JAFAAC]]". If you're wondering why, ask yourself "where's the girl that he wouldn't hit?"}}
[[File:change123_6_058_8758.jpg|link=Change 123|frame|[[Beware the Nice Ones|Probably]] [[Action Girl|a good]] [[Blood Knight|idea.]]]]▼
▲[[File:
{{quote|'''Scott''': "I don't hit girls."
'''Roxie''': "You're just a pussy, Pilgrim!"
|''[[Scott Pilgrim|Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together]]''}}
On average, men have greater upper body strength than women. Because most people [[You Fail Statistics Forever|don't actually understand concepts like "average" very well]], in a lot of people's minds this turns into "any given man is always much, much stronger than any given woman." And since a true hero never uses his strength against the weak, and all women are supposedly weak compared to him, it follows that a hero must never use physical violence against any woman, ever.
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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.
Often a form of [[Heroic Vow]]. May be a form of [[Innocent Bigot
'''Remember, aversions go under [[Would Hit a Girl]].'''
{{examples}}
* Spoofed mercilessly in [https://web.archive.org/web/20121130074541/http://www.kidfenris.com/cyborgs2.html this ad] for the Super Nintendo game ''The Combatribes''. Remember, cyborgs ain't ladies!▼
** The arcade version doesn't have that little "cyborg" plot element, but the final boss is still the same woman. One can only imagine the scolding if the author of the article ever catches wind of ''that''.▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Maken-ki!]]'' The main character has this philosophy. He also feels that women shouldn't even fight amongst themselves for any reason.
* Used brilliantly in the ''[[Hellsing]]'' manga and OVA. After assisting Integra in a fight against [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi]] vampires, some Iscariot members insist on her coming along as their prisoner. She refuses to do so, and, baffled about what to do, they propose knocking her out or tying her up. Integra points out that attempting this would be unfair because they outnumber her, and implies that there would be something thuggish and perverse about them attempting it because she's a woman. Anderson agrees, and instead the group settles on escorting her wherever she wants to go.
* ''[[Ranma ½]]'' has the titular character, who [[Fanon]] usually considers averse to fighting women no matter what the cause is. In canon, not so much; while there are one or two times he expresses the sentiment that he doesn't particularly like to fight girls, it mostly seems to be fans reading too much into the fact that Akane and his [[Love Dodecahedron|unwanted girlfriends]] can all give him the "total beatdown" version of the [[Armor-Piercing Slap]] despite being inferior martial artists. [[Overshadowed by Awesome|Compared]] to [[Can't Catch Up|him]]. Perhaps fuelled by heresay about a comment Ranma makes to Akane the first time in the series that the two of them are sentenced to [[Standing in the Hall]], where he mildly suggests that the reason Akane always beats Kuno is because when a guy is fighting a girl he likes, he might decide to let her win. The reality is that Ranma is [[Would Hit a Girl|quite willing to fight women]], will leap into battle with them without thinking, and only fights them on a relatively "low level" because:
* ''[[Guilty Crown]]'': Dan Eagleman is ''disgusted'' when Segai points a gun at Haruka Ouma. {{spoiler|Even when hindered by the cancerous crystals caused by the Apocalypse Virus}}, he throws himself at Segai and punches him in the face, giving Haruka a chance to escape.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' Jakotsu, the flamboyantly gay villain with a crush on Inuyasha, was originally supposed to be female. The author changed him to male because she didn't want Inuyasha to kill a girl. The numerous minor female villains always either transform into monster form(Looking at you Mistress Centipede) during the fight or are dispatched by the female cast, like when Kagome killed Yura of the Hair by destroying the red skull that was her true form. Similarly, the two major female villains (Kagura and Kanna) get hit by the heroes' combined weapons only a handful of times despite being introduced very early in the series, and being dispatched very late in the storyline. In the end {{spoiler|Kagura is murdered by Naraku for betraying him, and Kanna is killed by taking the damage from the monster she was controlling while the heroes were pleading with her to not die for Naraku. Both deaths are treated as an example of what an abomination that Naraku was}}.
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*** 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.]]
** This actually gets played for laughs in the second [[Non-Serial Movie]]. Inuyasha has had one sleeve of his firerat fur kimono torn off as an item to break the seal binding Kaguya. After reuniting with Sango and Miroku, Sango asks why he's dressed so funny as he isn't normally such a slob. Inuyasha promptly belts Miroku over the head, who points out in dismay he hadn't said or done anything offensive and asks why Inuyasha hit him for Sango's insult. Inuyasha refuses to answer with anything more than "I felt like it".
* ''[[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
{{quote|'''Yusuke''': The family jewels have ''not'' been stolen.}}
** In essence, the scene manages to play the trope straight, avert it, and then subvert it in rapid succession.
* ''[[One Piece]]'' Sanji chivalrously refuses to fight women, or in one case a Shapeshifter taking the form of a woman (Nami, although that was partially because he couldn't stop swooning over how cute "she" was) even if it means his death, and was once severely beaten as a result, with Nami being sure to let him know how stupid he's being. He does point a gun at Nico Robin on one occasion, but admits that it was a reflex to protect Vivi.
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*** This gets [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] in his fight with Kalifa, who beats him up, [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|and then lectures Sanji on how idiotic his moral code is.]]
** Sanji actually has to continually trick Mr 2 Bon Clay into touching his face with his left hand to keep the opponent from averting Sanji's attack because he takes Nami's form. Even mid-kick.
** It's easy to see where Sanji got this mindset from; his mentor "Red-Leg" Zeff is the same. Zeff refuses to hire women as cooks or waitresses in his restaurant, because he knows that if he did, he'd either have to treat them the same as he does his male employees - as in, like a [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] does to soldiers - or show them favoritism, which is just as bad. It's much easier not to hire them at all.
** Notable occurrence in Usopp's fight with Perona. Usopp never actually hit Perona, instead using his various tricks and gadgets to frighten her into unconsciousness. Well, he did hit her with an inflatable hammer, but it didn't actually hurt her.
*** He tried to hurt her though at the start of the fight. Then, till the very end, she was not even tangible.
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** Tashigi ''thought'' this trope was in action when Zoro didn't kill her after their fight, [[Averted Trope|but doesn't seem to understand]] that due to her resemblance to his childhood friend, doing so would probably would have caused him to have a [[Freak-Out]] of epic proportion.
** 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
** Luffy himself has no such qualms, as Alvida, Ms. Valentine's Day and especially Hancock's sisters Marigold and Sandersonia found out. Though due to the sisters' [[Scaled Up]] Devil Fruits, [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] possibly kicks in.
*** Luffy also punched Vivi.
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** He does say that it's "against his code" to strike a lady, but notes that [[Dark Chick|Tayuya]] doesn't count as one (it helps that she'd gone [[One-Winged Angel]] and didn't look very feminine anymore.)
** In fact, everyone else, good or bad, avoids this.
** Especially early in the series there's a tendency for [[Cat Fight]] to ensue whenever groups including women
** 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,
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' Kotarou does not like having to hit girls. The series also subverts it, in that after Kaede utterly kicks his butt due to his refusal to hit her, everybody (Kaede included) treats his dislike of hitting girls as a stupid idea that he needs to get over in order to be a better fighter. This particularly hurts him since [[
** 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.
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** This was nearly averted by Ryoma in the anime, though. When an [[Alpha Bitch]] from Jyousei Shonan and her [[Girl Posse]] were harassing Sakuno and Tomoka (and said [[Alpha Bitch]] [[Kick the Dog|pushed poor Sakuno to the ground and threatened to do the same to Tomoka when she stood up for her friend]]), he does ''not'' hit them... but throws balls ''dangerously'' close to them to scare them off. The [[Alpha Bitch]] has to dodge one of the balls, and had she not done so she ''would'' have been hit.
** In his backstory, a young Nanjiroh Echizen is ''extremely'' upset when he finds out that Rinko Takeuchi, the girl he fancies ([[Love At First Punch|in a rather sui-generis way]], has been physically abused [[Sadist Teacher|by her tennis coach]] (and for extra [[Kick the Dog]] points, she took a beating to protect a little child whom he has been mistreating) and settles things with a tennis match in which [[Curb Stomp Battle|he completely crushes him.]]
* ''[[Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls]]''
** In fact, out of all the Basilisk girls, only ''two'' aren't horribly killed by male fighters in the middle of the bloody feud between Igas and Kogas. One is killed by a fellow [[Action Girl]], and the other is [[Driven to Suicide]].
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|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
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''
* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': Subverted in the second season (and the second novel), during the production of the Brigade-movie. Haruhi did her worst [[Kick the Dog]] act to Mikuru and then said to Kyon's face that it was okay for her to do such things. Kyon went ballistic on her... but then Koizumi stopped his punch. After that event, Koizumi also remarked that he "always thought [Kyon was] a calm person", and Kyon notes [[Not Himself|that it was not in him to be violent]],▼
**
▲* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' Subverted in the second season (and the second novel), during the production of the Brigade-movie. Haruhi did her worst [[Kick the Dog]] act to Mikuru and then said to Kyon's face that it was okay for her to do such things. Kyon went ballistic on her... but then Koizumi stopped his punch. After that event, Koizumi also remarked that he "always thought [Kyon was] a calm person", and Kyon notes [[Not Himself|that it was not in him to be violent]],
▲** One of the most well-known (if not THE most) Haruhi hentai doujins involves Kyon, after watching Haruhi performing even MORE heinous acts to Mikuru, not only goes through with punching her, but he then proceeds to beat the crap out of her when she fights back, and culminates the beating by showing her the same kind of humiliation Mikuru went through. His method of choice? Well, it's [[Hentai]], so take a guess.
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Aramaki feels guilty about knocking Orihime out when she tries to bite him in order to go back and assist Uryu. Mayuri suggests that part of the "honor of the Quincy" involves protecting women- even enemies- after Uryu protests his mistreating his female lieutenant and "daughter," Nemu.
** Lampshaded and then averted by Renji.
** During his training with Uruhara, Ichigo shows a lot of reluctance to spar with Ururu, which overlaps with [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child]] because Ururu looks like a young girl. He quickly changes his mind when he finds out she's a lot stronger than she looks.
* When Hime-chan from ''[[Hime-chan no Ribon|Himechan no Ribon]]'' asked Daichi to hit her (because she hit him earlier and she felt guilty) he refused to hit a girl. So she grabbed his fist and punched herself with it.
* ''[[Death Note]]'': Mostly played straight with Light - he has no qualms whatsoever about killing women (at times brutally) with the Note, but he never physically harms them in person, though usually 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.
* Played with in ''[[Change 123]]''
▲** 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]].
** Aizawa plays this trope straight. Although he is a [[Japanese Delinquents|"Yankee" Delinquent]] who fights very ungentlemanly against guys, he is unwilling to hit a girl, even if a girl (usually unintentionally) offenses him. The only exception is when he deals with the tomboyish Ginga, whose fighting skills are, however, on par with his.
* In ''[[Bakuman｡]]'', when Miyoshi demands that Mashiro and Takagi let her into their office, Takagi reluctantly decides to answer the door, saying that she would beat him up later. He says that he would fight back and win, but can't because she's a girl, and Mashiro doubts this statement.
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* ''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys]]'':
** In ''High School Boys and the [[School Festival|Cultural Festival]]'', [[Student Council President]] says this near the end of his fight with Ringo-chan. {{spoiler|But it's obvious that [[Non-Action Guy|he's just not that good at fighting]].}}
** Played straight in the ''High School Girls are Funky'' skit ''Resentment'': Facing Yanagi and Ikushima's attacks, Karasawa didn't in fact hit any of them a
** [[Subverted]] in ''High School Boys and Seniority'', Motoharu didn't hit his sister's classmates that are bullying him...not because they're girls, but because they're [[Sempai-Kohai|senior to him]].
* Even though Guts from ''[[Berserk]]'' [[Would Hit a Girl|averts this]] when it comes to VERY LETHAL female apostles, he fiddles with this trope at best. You see, Guts isn't exactly the poster child of a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] and has done a BIG share of morally questionable actions, but he's still too decent of a guy to sink to level of battering women and girls just because. At most, he'll just hurt their feelings, traumatize them, threaten them, or hold them hostage, and in those instances, that was back when Guts was almost a [[Villain Protagonist]] before [[Morality Chain|he found his light again.]] A good example would be with his own future [[Love Interest]], Casca. When they were stranded in the rain after a battle and Casca feel ill (which was induced by her fighting during her period), [[Intimate Healing|Guts had to save her life by taking off their clothes and warming her.]] Casca, who didn't like Guts back then, didn't take too kindly to this gesture the next morning and attacked him. In his aggravation, Guts began to yell at her and told her that had she been a man, he would have dislocated her jaw. [[Stay in the Kitchen|Guts said a bunch more pretty hurtful things to Casca]] - which resulted in her crying and him feeling sorry for doing so - but it was most likely because he was hurt that he always tried to get on Casca's good side but she never approved of him, so he just popped.
* In the ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Sin City]]'' Played straight in the comic book and film; Marv has some (albeit a very few) moral lines in the sand, which he crosses only with extreme reluctance - hitting a woman is one of them. He crosses this line on only two occasions in the series: {{spoiler|to spare his companion Wendy, Goldie's twin sister, from having to watch him torture Goldie's killer Kevin to death}}, and {{spoiler|executing a female slave trader who was planning to sell a girl who Marv was trying to find and bring back to her mother into sexual slavery}}.
** Marv also takes this trope one step further, as other people hitting women is his [[Berserk Button]], particularly in regards to Nancy Callahan, his favorite among the strippers at Kadie's. He mentions an episode from his past when some frat boy asshole roughed up Nancy, and Marv "straightened him out but good," implying that the other guy didn't survive the beatdown.
* ''[[Superman]]'': Subverted (sort of; there's
** And yet after that, Superman backslides into being bound by this trope. Fortunately for Metropolis, most of his opponents are male because, when he fights a woman, he gets slapped around a lot because he can't be shown striking her, even when she's clearly powerful enough to take one of his punches. He'll restrain her or attack her in an indirect fashion (like pouring water on Livewire), or a female superhero will step in (often after he's been dropped) and beat the villainess up for him.
* In ''[[Asterix]] and the Secret Weapon'' The villain attempts to use this trope to defeat the invincible-yet-honourable Gauls - by employing a whole ''centuria'' of women to fight them. The gauls respond by transforming their village into a giant mall. The "trap" succeeds flawlessly; [[Unfortunate Implications]] ahoy, though one can also attribute their lack of military discipline (evidenced in their first on-page appearance) to a rushed training.
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* ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' volume 3 #20, Diana ticks off [[Beowulf]], and he attacks her. After she punches him in the face, Beowulf apologises and says he doesn't fight women. Then they see Grendel's worshippers approaching, and Diana asks him if he ever fights ''beside'' women. Cue the pair readying themselves for battle.
** Which is odd, because in the original Legends, one of the monsters Beowulf kills is Grendel's ''mother''.
*** ...who was less a woman, and more a man
* The first time [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] encountered a female villain, he said that he couldn't hit a girl. Few of his villains even today are female.
** He gets over this later. In ''[[Secret Wars]]'' especially when he takes on Titania (who was about kill [[She Hulk]]) and throws her through a wall.
** He had definitely gotten over this by the videogame based on the third movie; not only can you pummel Shriek, there are also Apocalypse Gang Grenadiers, who are female, and there's nothing stopping you from catching them in a web line and slamming them at high speed into the pavement.
* ''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'': Used and subverted in an issue. Going up against Anaconda, a rare female villain who is muscular, does not possess the [[Most Common Superpower]], and genuinely enjoys a fistfight, Cap pulled a punch "in deference to her womanhood", then decided not to make that mistake again. He then realized that she could shrug off punches that "could shatter bone", and had to resort to his shield. As said in the comments for the entry, "Dude, it's Captain America. He believes in freedom, justice, civil liberties, gay rights, gender equality and yeah, that means punching men and women without discriminating."
** Used again in another comic. A supervillain and a supervillainess have escaped from prison. Long story short, Cap hits her with his elbow hard enough to knock her out briefly while saying "Sorry, lady!"
* ''[[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]'' In a 1970s comic, the Marvel Family storms Hell itself. They fight various mythological monsters there; when they run into Lamia, neither Billy nor Freddy dare hit her, despite her being a half-snake monster. Luckily the brought Mary Marvel along. *
* ''[[The Punisher]]''
** 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.
* "''The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz''" by Don Martin. Parodied in the short story "Chicken Soup", the [[wikipedia:Captain Klutz|titular hero]] bemoans the fact his superhero code prohibits him from hitting the evil woman villain turning everyone into zombies - but it doesn't say anything about not SHOOTING 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]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110927013737/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.
* ''[[Ex Machina]]'' In the second issue, we see a flashback to when Hundred first met Angotti while he was still The Great Machine. She attacks him, trying to subdue and arrest him, and when he doesn't understand she explains the damage he causes, citing a recent incident in which a female officer was injured. He's guilty over the accident, but seems moreso after finding out he hurt a woman.
* ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' Early on, we are introduced to two entirely original super villainesses (the Spider Man universe has always been a tad short on female villains), a mother-daughter pair called The Bombshells, mutants with the ability to make things explode as long as they stay in close proximity to each other. Spidey shows no reluctance when it comes to delivering a flying kick to the mother's face.
* [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|The Thing]] explains [http://www.comicvine.com/jean-grey/29-3552/earth-616-jeanphoenix/108-26/jean_grey1/105-1712956/ his predicament] in a [[Let's You and Him Fight]] with the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]].
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* ''[[Small Soldiers]]'' Chip Hazard references the trope, but he's very selective about how he applies it. His statement is in reference to a bunch of Barbie dolls he and his fellow toys roboticized. He really has no problem killing human women if necessary.
* ''[[Batman Returns]]'' When Batman and Catwoman are fighting for the first time, she pummels him and he refuses to counterattack - for a moment. When finally he does punch her out, she whimpers, "How could you? I'm a ''woman!''" Immediately contrite, Batman moves to help her up... and she knocks him off the rooftop. "As I was saying, I'm a woman, and can't be taken for granted!" In later encounters, Batman has learnt his lesson and does hit her.
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* ''[[Time Cop]]'', Van Damme's character Max, confronts a female double agent who attacks him. Initially he doesn't fight back and tells her "I don't want to fight a woman." The woman has no qualms with hitting a man, so she gets some free attacks on him without retaliation. Max then subverts the trope when he says "I changed my mind," and punches her back.
* ''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
* ''[[Small Faces]]'' A Glasgow gang movie [[Deconstructed]]; the [[Ambiguously Gay]] friend of the protagonist is cornered by a gaggle of women who start pushing him around trying to get a reaction. A mob of [[Violent Glaswegian
* ''[[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]].
* ''[[Sudden Death]]'' features a brutal fight to the death between [[Jean
* In the Thunderbirds live action movie Parker says he won't hit a woman when confronted with The Hood's female sidekick. Luckily Tin Tin is there to do it for him.
* In ''[[Superman II]]'', Ursa says, "What? ''You'd'' hit a woman?" to get Superman to hesitate.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Played to the hilt in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series. Although many of the women of [[Fan Nickname|Randland]] wield more political power than men, and are frequently seen physically abusing men, most cultures are extremely protective of women, causing many men to refuse to harm a woman for any reason. Many women, however, protest this behavior.
** Rand al'Thor is the most prominent example. He refuses to harm a woman even if she's an immortal agent of [[Ultimate Evil]] and trying to kill him using legendary [[Black Magic|magical powers]]. He also goes out of his way to avoid putting women in danger, which upsets his Amazonian bodyguards immensely. In fact, Rand has memorized the name or identifying characteristic of ''every woman'' who died because of him or while in his service. He once goes into a [[Heroic BSOD]] after a woman who tried to steal his throne and betray him commits suicide. The 12th book suggests that his behavior is the result of his growing insanity, which magnifies his chivalrous upbringing.
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* In ''[[The Great Brain|More Adventures of the Great Brain]]'', the kids all taunt a 12-year old girl named Dottie, who dresses like a boy and has never been to school before. Ringleader Sammy gets a little too close, so she punches him in the nose. He says he'd fight back if she weren't a girl, but she tells him to go ahead. Sammy ends up eating dirt, and once she learns to fit in, Dottie becomes a celebrity among the other girls for beating up a bigger boy in a "fair and square fight."
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Chalion|Paladin of Souls]]'', Arhys {{spoiler|kills seven enemy sorcerers before being defeated by the eighth. Ista tells the others that the last sorcerer was probably a young and beautiful woman, and Arhys couldn't overcome his chivalry in time to win the fight. His brother remarks sadly that it is an appropriate death for him.}}
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' generally averts this as the majority of duels are done with wands instead of fists. Notable is from [[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and
* Subverted in ''A World Gone Mad''. Jerkass [[Anti-Hero]] Griffin, when confronted by teen [[Action Girl]] Tanya, raises his hands and tells her "I'd never hit a girl." He then promptly whips out his gun and shoots her in the head while she's occupied preparing to give him a "you sexist idiot" speech.
** He later tries to pull the exact same move on Kyra, but she's quick enough and smart enough to dive for cover before he can clear his holster.
* Played completely straight in another of [[David Weber]]'s book series, the [[Hell's Gate]] series where both empires have big, big issues with harming women.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Lobsang Ludd from
** Banjo, a brutish but childlike thug from ''[[
** The Librarian usually [[Berserk Button|gets aggressive]], when he's called a monkey, but when Ginger does it in ''[[
*** He also just wags a finger at Agnes in ''[[
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''Traitor General'', when the [[La Résistance|resistance member]] Sabbatine Cirk baits and snipes at the members of Gaunt's team, it is Ana Curth who finally slugs her.
* 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.
* 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.
* ''[[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.
* 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:
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* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Harry Wong in ''Lethal Justice'' apparently has this attitude towards Yoko Akia when they spar against each other. She non-hesitatingly kicks his ass, but she is still willing to have a relationship with him anyway!
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' plays this straight a lot. Which is weird, since the Federation (especially from the TNG era on) is generally portrayed as a liberal utopia free from all gender prejudice.
** ''[[Star Trek:
*** 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.
** The ''Original Series'' episode ''Charlie X'', plays this straight, with Captain Kirk telling the titular character "There's no right way to hit a woman." In the episode "[[Star Trek/Recap/S3
* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[Get Smart]]'':
{{quote|'''Evil Female Agent''': You wouldn't hit a lady, would you?
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* ''[[Batman (TV series)|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.
* ''[[Lois
* ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' Taken more or less as a
** It's probably a side-effect of this trope that leads to Gene's sidekicks being astonished when she hits him with a fist, instead of with an open hand.
*** Actually, it's a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] / [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] for Alex. Gene calls her, among other things, a bitch, and first, she slaps him. He patronizingly asks her "you feel better now?". She uppercuts him, knocking him back, and grins, quipping "no, better ''now''".
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** Apparently averted at least once... because Conan used that clip on his show, acting shocked after it was over.
** [[Would Hit a Girl|The exact opposite of this trope]], however, was regularly used with the villains, who frequently batter women in many episodes, always without fear of the consequences. (Children and elderly people have also been known to be hit and injured by the bad guys in episodes.)
* ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' Given a speech about 'shooting girls' Mal gives in the pilot, you'd think that this is alive and well in the Old West [[In Space]]. {{spoiler|Right up to the end of 'Our Mrs Reynolds', when he corners would-be ship thief and title character Saffron. He asks her what her real name is in a moment that seems full of emotional tension. She pauses, starts to speak ... and he slugs her. Then again, this is well after she poisoned him and left him and his crew to die, so he's probably feeling a mite justified.}} The brawl at the start of 'The Train Job' suggests that this doesn't apply anyway. (And seeing what usually happens to people who so much as threaten Mal's crew, let alone put them in actual danger, {{spoiler|Saffron}} really got off lightly.)
* Subverted in ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'': The second (In Color!) [[Animated Credits Opening]] changed a scene of Jim West incapacitating a female assassin with a kiss to incapacitating her with a right cross. That's right: Woman-punching was specially added for the new-and-improved credits sequence. Though given he shot all other opponents, it's still a step down on violence: [[Double Subversion|James West wouldn't shoot a girl.]]
* Played with in ''[[Chuck]]'':
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** 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.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S12
* ''[[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.
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** Averted somewhat when a Kandorian woman brings blue Kryptonite (which takes away Clark's powers but doesn't cause him pain like the green variety) with her and tries to kill him. Clark defends himself quite handily, even though he hasn't had the military combat training his opponent had.
* ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' In one episode Reese is terrorized by a four-year-old girl who loves to bite him, but when he can't bring himself to hit her, he concocts a [[Zany Scheme]] to run her and her family out of town.
* ''[[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
* ''[[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.
* In ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community/Recap/S1
{{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:
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'''Mary''': I can't believe you'd hit a girl!
'''Marshall''': You're no girl. }}
* Another amusing subversion occurs in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' when Vala punches Daniel then exclaims "You hit me!" when he returns the favor. He exasperatedly points out "''You'' hit ''me''!"
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==▼
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
* Subverted in an early ''[[Peanuts]]'' strip, where Charlie Brown is fed up with Lucy, and shouts at her. She challenges him to a fighting match, but he declines. Linus says that Charlie Brown should've slugged Lucy. Schroeder explains that Charlie Brown "would never think of hitting a girl, so he deliberately humiliated himself to hold on to his high moral standards". Charlie Brown responds that he was just afraid that she would beat him up.
** In another ''Peanuts'' strip from the late 1950s, Linus takes Lucy on in a backyard boxing match but takes two hard lefts before he knows it. Stunned, Linus begins to get serious and then Lucy lowers her gloves and says "You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" while Linus, saying "Huh?" then lowers his gloves upon which Lucy rips a left hook to Linus' jaw to knock him out.
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* In ''[[Dick Tracy]],'' when the female villain Quiver has threatened to blow up an airliner, Tracy ends up having to sock her in the jaw before she can hit the button. Afterward, he looks embarrassed, and tells the stewardess he doesn't normally go around hitting women. The stewardess quips, "That's alright, Detective Tracy. Haven't you heard of equal rights?"
== Professional Sports ==
* The reason why intergender boxing/MMA fights aren't promoted. [[Professional Wrestling]] occasionally subverts it for entertainment value, such as Chyna's Intercontinental title reign.▼
** Some women in MMA and boxing have a problem with this, arguing that however unlikely they'd be to actually beat most male opponents, competing in the same leagues would give women's MMA a better chance of being taken seriously and making more money.▼
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* A longtime trope in [[Professional Wrestling]] (at least among [[
** Often times if a heel has a female manager or girlfriend, they'll [[Dirty Coward|use her as a human shield]] when being chased by a face with a steel chair, because they know the face would never hit a woman.
** Amusingly enough, however, in Canadian broadcasts of WWE programming they will cut away from a woman being hit by a man (however justified it might be storywise) even today... [[Cat Fight|women can beat women up]] with no problems. Thus leading to ridiculous situations where a group of female [[
** And it's not a dead trope in the States, either. [[Spike TV]] (the 'Men's Network') apparently dislikes showing men striking women, even when it's a horrible heel. Or when it's a replay of something that happened during a pay-per-view. Showing a 275 lb monster heel legitimately (though lightly) concussing a smaller female is alright if said monster is female herself. Yes, 275 (although I might be off by a kilo or two).
*** [[TNA]], whose programming is currently carried on Spike, frequently [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this; it's often mentioned that Spike has promised dire consequences for any man who hits a woman on ''Impact'', and the female heels often use this to taunt and bait the male faces.
**** Part of it may be that Spike also airs the program in Canada.
* Hilariously averted on an episode of ''[[WWE Raw]]'' where Santino Marella, [[Beth Phoenix]], JBL, and [[Randy Orton]] are all arguing before [[Batista]] comes out and challenges Santino, JBL, and Randy to a fight at the same time. He then apologizes and tells Beth Phoenix he'd gladly kick her ass too. After Santino comes at Batista and gets dropped, Beth slaps him and gets slammed on top of Santino.
** This might be considered one of those "Chyna exemption" moments, because Phoenix is in incredible shape, certainly by [[WWE/Characters/Divas|WWE]] standards. (Her nickname is "The Glamazon"
** Also as much a part due to her training and background. Unlike even the most athletic of her contemporaries who may be at best, fitness models, dancers, or gymnasts, [[Beth Phoenix]] has a background in collegiate wrestling. As a result, it's something of a truth in television that she's generally tougher than the other women. On the flip side, it also means her matches tend to be fairly lopsided since a dancer or model isn't likely to be willing to actually engage in any real wrestling beyond basic bumps.
* [[ECW]] blatantly averting this would have to have been one of the reasons it became so infamous in the 90s. The biggest example would be [[Beyond the Impossible|the Pitbulls putting Francine through a table with a Superbomb]]. And the crowd went nuts for it!
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** There are occasional true intergender matches, where men can fight women, but they're rare and usually handled badly.
** This was completely averted in an outstanding match few American viewers got to see - Daniel Bryan and Gail Kim versus Tyson Kidd and Melina on WWE Superstars where the four of them threw the usual rules of intergender matches out of the window. Bryan and Kim especially used a number of double team moves on both opponents.
* On the other hand, in recent years it became common for some male wrestlers to rough up obviously weak or non-wrestler women just to show what [[Complete Monster|Bastards]], [[Badass
* During the WWF's kayfabe era, this trope's most frequent use centered on Miss Elizabeth, the valet of [[Randy Savage]]. During Savage's heel run in 1985-1987, particularly when he was wrestling [[Hulk Hogan]], Savage would pull Elizabeth in front of him, using her as a shield while he had a chance to regroup; Hogan would simply pick Elizabeth and gently move her out of the way, giving Savage ample opportunity to blindside Hogan. Also during Savage's heel run, he came close several times to striking Elizabeth himself (usually when he perceived her to be paying too much attention to an opponent, not opening the ropes or folding his robe correctly or some other minor misdeed) but always stopped short of actually striking her. Apparently, Savage (and the WWF) agreed that they wanted him to be a heel, but not such an outwardly despicable one.
: The rule of "never touch Elizabeth" began to be thrown out when Savage turned face at the end of the summer 1987, and while the heels never struck or punched her, Elizabeth was shoved and grabbed by both the wrist and ankle on many occassions, by such dastardly heels as The Honky Tonk Man, [[Andre the Giant]], the Big Bossman and Akeem. Savage's other opponents during his face run -- Butch Reed, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Haku, Bad News Brown and Dino Bravo -- were satisfied with simply trash-talking Elizabeth. During Savage's second face run starting in 1991, Jake "the Snake" Roberts completely threw out the trope by slapping Elizabeth across the face during a memorable match.
* This was averted in the [[Attitude Era]] and Ruthless Aggression Era in a few intergender tag matches where men and women on
separate teams would get in some offence against their opposite gender. The likes of [[Lita]], Jacqueline, Molly Holly, Ivory and later [[Trish Stratus]] would have no objections to taking a few hits from the men.
** Bubba Ray Dudley completely averted this in a tag match in late 2002 where he dished out body slams and clotheslines to Victoria with no hesitation along with both her male partners.
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
* One Canadian stand-up comic has a bit he does where he announces that under no circumstances should a man hit a woman. But there should be women who a man could ''hire'' who could hit a woman...▼
* Hilariously subverted by the comedian [[Titus]]:▼
{{quote|'''Titus''': "Now, I don't think a man should ''EVER'' hit a woman! ...Until the fifth time she's cracked him in the face."}}▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' allows you to hit girls, but your alert bar goes to maximum and prefects spawn out of nowhere to attack you. Justified, since it's a Western game, after all. This has a side-effect of turning Zoe {{spoiler|who doesn't appear until very late in the game and fills the conspicuously-empty Bully clique girl's slot}} into a [[Faux Action Girl]], because although she's stated to a formidable fighter and really likes to fight, you can't fight her; the girl-type AI has them run away if struck.
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series. Every character is willing to hit a girl, but there are a few exceptions;
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* ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]'' In the second game your crew has no objections to wantonly murdering anyone who so much as looks at you funny but if you attack a female npc they twiddle their thumbs on the sidelines.
* In ''[[Mafia II]]'' attacking male pedestrians will engage you in a bout of fistycuffmanship but female pedestrians can only be shoved and sent fleeing in terror. If you run after them they remain immune to attack, nor can they be kicked whilst they cower, huddled in a ball.
* Played with and discussed in ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'': Zero [[Would Hit a Girl]], but in his first fight against Leviathan she accuses him of this when she isn't immediately killed by his final strike. She adds that she told him not to show mercy, making it rude of him to invoke this trope. He remains silent throughout, so we never find out whether this trope is actually in effect.
* Ganondorf, [[Big Bad|King Of Evil]] in the ''Zelda'' series, has an interesting tendency to ignore the princess Zelda when she takes part in the final battle, and take minimal steps to restrain her even though she is occasionally instrumental to Link's victory. In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', although he does give her a heavy backhand, he goes out of his way (even sheathing his swords) to avoid seriously harming Zelda, while she's actively trying to kill him.
* In [[Fallout 2]], if your Chosen One is female, Enclave patrols will occasionally express their displeasure about having to kill a woman. Doesn't stop them from tearing her a new one with their hi-tech weapons though.
* In ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Justified in the [[Web Comic]] ''[[Fans]]'' with Will Erixon: {{spoiler|he feared becoming like his father, who beat his mother to death.}}
* Noted in ''[[The
* ''[[Ozy and Millie]]'' plays with this trope [https://web.archive.org/web/20100713130208/http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/19990310.html here].
* Used straight in ''[[Misfile]]'' [http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=33 when Emily slaps Ash and tells her she can only hit back if she's willing to accept being a girl.] Semi-averted later when Ash picks a fight with Tom and he fights back (offscreen) until they're pulled apart. (It's not a true aversion since Tom is never actually shown striking Ash.) Naturally, the [[Double Standard]] ensures that Tom gets punished and Ash doesn't even though she started the fight, which both relieves her and annoys her to no end. Fully averted later [http://www.misfile.com/?page=1312 here], when Ash loses her cool and actually ''does'' hit a girl full-force in the face, only to freak out about it afterwards.
* '''So''' averted in [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213184407/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/155 this] ''[[Loserz]]'' strip. Fortunately, Jodie isn't one to take things laying down, as seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213193112/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/157 here].
** Played with later on as well, when Jodie wants Ben to hit her as payback for her having {{spoiler|slept with Ben's long-time crush Jessica, who had just come out of the closet}}. Ben [https://web.archive.org/web/20110129055412/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/513 plays the trope straight] at first... then immediately [https://web.archive.org/web/20110129061221/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/514 subverts] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110129055630/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/515 it].
* Mostly averted in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]''. Elliot refuses to go all out when sparring with Nanase but he claims it's only because he's afraid to go full out against anybody. Tedd becomes extremely upset when he learns that Damien used to hit Grace but that's probably because he loves her. However, the fact that the comic uses women hitting men with a hammer as humour and shows no real consequences when, for example, Susan slaps Tedd, does show that the double-standard is in play.
** Mr. Verres, however, follows this trope completely as shown [http://egscomics.com/?date=2010-11-01 here.] Even though he knows that the "girl" in question is [[Gender Bender|normally a guy]] he still won't deliver the much-deserved [[Dope Slap]].
* 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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20130602103120/http://girlyyy.com/go/511 this strip].
* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'', being a (reasonably) egalitarian [[Cyberpunk]] future setting, sees very few problems with women fighting alongside men on the show, or shoving people into a pit full of [[Mecha-Mooks|robotic chickens]] for a job interview... but when [http://www.lastres0rt.com/?p=53 Jason slaps Daisy upside the head], almost every other woman in the room is still shocked and appalled, to the point that Jigsaw's overly dramatic [[Freak-Out]] is [http://www.lastres0rt.com/?p=54 dismissed as a bad reaction to the scene], ignoring the [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|dead eyes]] she just showed off... Daisy was chained to the wall by her hands and foot, and was helpless when it happened. She was trying to provoke him at the time anyway...
* Played straight AND averted in [http://gunshowcomic.com/347 this] [[Gunshow]] comic
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'''Torg:''' Ouch. Is that policy too?
'''Crushestro:''' Ever since my re-divorce? Yes! }}
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_666.php this] ''[[
* In a flashback arc of ''[[General Protection Fault]]'', Fooker makes some sexist remarks to Ki disparaging her studying Computer Science, and gets beaten up as a result, being unable to fight back because of this trope. Averted with Sam, who backhands Ki when she can't go through with having sex with him, and then [[Attempted Rape|tries to]] [[Moral Event Horizon|rape her]].
* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0131.html Lenny asks Julie to hit her sister for him, because of the double standard and everything.]
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* Sarge of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', despite his usual willingness to shoot or hit anything Blue (or Grif). In Reconstruction, when the blue soldiers of Blood Gulch consist of only Sister, Sarge insists that he can't attack Sister because she's a woman, and thus they are locked in an 'epic stalemate'.
* In ''[[Epic Rap Battles of History]]'', [[Ludwig Van Beethoven]] says this is why he won't smack [[Justin Bieber]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' By and large averted but played with in-story [[Kayfabe]] no less, in the episode "The Blind Bandit":
{{quote|'''The Boulder:''' [[Third Person Person|The Boulder]] feels conflicted about fighting a young, [[Disability Superpower|blind]] girl.
'''[[Cute Bruiser|Toph]]:''' Sounds to me like you're ''scared''.
'''The Boulder:''' * Beat* [[Nobody Calls Me Chicken|The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings, and is now ready to bury you in a Rockalanche!]] }}
** That said, what makes people feel bad about the idea of hitting Toph (before they realize she's [[Little Miss Badass|an unstoppable badass]]) is primarily that (a) she's ''blind'' and (b) she's twelve years old and on the small side for her age. Gender comes ''way'' down on the list.
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* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'': In one episode, DW and Gosalyn (in her identity as Quiverwing Quack) are facing the villainess Splatter Pheonix. Splatter taunts Darkwing, saying that his code of honor would never allow him to hit a woman. Darkwing sighs, and admits she's right.
{{quote|'''Darkwing'''"Quiverwing -- ''you'' do it." }}
* ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'': One episode has Gizmo Duck trying to get a robot to stop hitting him by disguising himself as a woman. When that doesn't work, he tries the same costume again, but with glasses. He still gets hit.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'': Ed mentions that he is forbidden to hit girls. His younger sister Sarah, who knows full well that he can lift houses with ease, endlessly exploits this. Ed is an endlessly cheerful [[Cloudcuckoolander]], so she can get away with it. The one time he ''isn't'', she's genuinely frightened.
* ''[[The Fairly
** 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.
* ''[[Fantastic Four (animation)|Fantastic Four]]'': In one episode of the 90s animated series, the Thing says he can't hit a lady when he meets Malice. It doesn't take her long to convince him that she ain't no lady. Since Malice is [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] and has no compunctions about how she uses her forcefield powers she shuts Ben down real quick. (After this episode, you'll never say [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|her powers suck again]].)
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** Superman ''has'' hit women in his own series, so that probably wouldn't have worked for long anyway. When he tackled Livewire through a wall on ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'', she incredulously goes, "At least we know you hit girls!"
** Justice League heavily averts this in general though. Hawkgirl in particular tends to get beat up on quite a bit.
* ''[[
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'': In the [[Freaky Friday Flip]] episode, Perry the Teenage Girl defeats his nemesis Dr. Doofenshmirtz even more easily than usual, because Doofenshmirtz can't hit a girl: "It's so, ''como se dice'', awkward!"
** For added points, he didn't even realize that he was (sort of) a girl, he thought it was a weird disguise.
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* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', this version of Blackarachnia ''does'' take advantage of it. In "Along Came A Spider", she asks a gawping Bulkhead and Bumblebee "You wouldn't hurt a helpless femme-bot, would you?". {{spoiler|Then she poisons them both}}. There's no Silverbolt in this series, so it looks like Optimus Prime is going to be the one she uses most..
** Soundwave doesn't follow this trope, and with ignoring [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child]] too, attacks Sari with the power of rock, slamming her against a wall.
* ''[[The Venture Bros]]'': Brock Samson, the [[Made of Iron]] murder-happy bodyguard follows his mentor's rules to the
* The trailer for the ''[[Wonder Woman (animation)|Wonder Woman]]'' animated movie has WW saying "It's not polite to hit a lady." Some fans found it rather odd that she would say this, considering [[Lady Land|her native culture]] is a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]. There's a good chance that line was deliberately taken out-of-context. (It was.)
* ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' had an episode where Clay refused to fight the villain Kattnappe, but this was resolved when he decided crushing her in a bear hug was okay, because, you know, he didn't ''hit'' her. Well, it is just a hold...
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* Judge Mills Lane subverts it during his fight with [[Judge Judy]] in ''[[Celebrity Deathmatch]]''. Although he does make it known that he doesn't hit women, he puts a blindfold on as a handicap and proceeds to fight her.
== Real Life ==
* Commonly [[Truth in Television]]; many parents do teach their sons this rule. Men who break this taboo, even in self-defense against a woman who poses a credible threat, are treated with contempt in many cultures.
** Fortunately, some parents are now realizing the danger of teaching this rule and are instead teaching their sons not to hit a girl
▲* Spoofed mercilessly in [http://www.kidfenris.com/cyborgs2.html this ad] for the Super Nintendo game ''The Combatribes''. Remember, cyborgs ain't ladies!
▲** The arcade version doesn't have that little "cyborg" plot element, but the final boss is still the same woman. One can only imagine the scolding if the author of the article ever catches wind of ''that''.
▲* One Canadian stand-up comic has a bit he does where he announces that under no circumstances should a man hit a woman. But there should be women who a man could ''hire'' who could hit a woman...
▲* Hilariously subverted by the comedian [[Titus]]:
▲{{quote|'''Titus''': "Now, I don't think a man should ''EVER'' hit a woman! ...Until the fifth time she's cracked him in the face."}}
* In a real-life example, during the New York newsboys' strike of 1899, the striking newsboys used violence against scabs (i.e. boys selling papers in defiance of the strike) and against the delivery wagons that distributed the newspapers, but they never used violence against the women who owned and ran newsstands that sold the boycotted newspapers. Kid Blink, leader of the strike, said "A feller can't soak a lady."▼
▲* The reason why intergender boxing/MMA fights aren't promoted. [[Professional Wrestling]] occasionally subverts it for entertainment value, such as Chyna's Intercontinental title reign.
▲** Some women in MMA and boxing have a problem with this, arguing that however unlikely they'd be to actually beat most male opponents, competing in the same leagues would give women's MMA a better chance of being taken seriously and making more money.
* A metaphorical example: ''[[The Gruen Transfer|Gruen Nation]]'' commented, that in the leadup to [[Australian Politics|the 2010 Australian Election]], the Coalition seemed unwilling to run ads attacking Prime Minister Julia Gillard herself, as opposed to the Labor Party (albeit probably more because they were worried about how the public would react than any moral qualms on their own part). It was only near the end of the campaign, as things got increasingly frenetic, that ads attacking Julia Gillard appeared.
* [http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/For-first-time-Iowa-girl-wins-a-state-wrestling?urn=highschool-322846 This guy wouldn't wrestle with a girl.]
** Not altogether uncommon. To quote a teammate of mine from high school: "There's no good way to wrestle a girl. You don't want to lose to a girl and look like a wimp, but if you beat her, you just look like a bully.
* Although Angel Eyes, the villain from ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' had no problem with hitting girls, [[Lee Van Cleef]], the actor portraying him, absolutely refused to, requiring the director to use a stunt man in the scene where it happened.
▲*
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Women Are Delicate]]
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Phrases]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
▲[[Category:Wouldnt Hit A Girl]]
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