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Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Difference between revisions
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When applied to ordinary [[Bar Brawl|bar fights]], schoolyard throwdowns, [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|duels of honor]] and so on, the trope is well-meaning if also rather sexist (against both [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|men]] and [[Stay in The Kitchen|women]], albeit in different ways). However, when characters keep invoking it in situations where their female opponent poses a really serious threat that might only be preventable by violence, it quickly becomes absurd. The [[Sliding Scale of Cynicism Versus Idealism|cynical]] might point out that, rather than being motivated by pure nobility of spirit, this philosophy functions as a convenient way for the male character to avoid [[I Was Beaten By a Girl|the humiliation of being beaten by a woman]]; if he refuses to fight against women, there's no way for a woman to ever prove she could defeat him at his full strength.
Since ideas about gender roles are in flux these days and tend to vary widely, modern media can be highly inconsistent about whether this trope is portrayed as a good or bad thing. If a villain refuses to fight a heroic [[Action Girl]] on these grounds, it's a toss-up whether this will be portrayed as [[Pet the Dog|a sign]] that [[Affably Evil|he has]] [[Even Evil Has Standards|at least a warped sense of honor]] [[Family Values Villain|after all]], or as [[Stay in The Kitchen|profoundly insulting]]. Of course, the villain might be not sure of his chances and the refusal to fight might be just a trick. If a hero can't bring himself to strike a [[Dark Action Girl|villainess]], it either means that he's a [[Ideal Hero|chivalrous guy]] with [[Lawful Good|strong values]], or that an [[Fair for Its Day|old-fashioned]], patronizing attitude toward women is [[Noble Bigot|one of his few character flaws]]. Occasionally you'll even see both at once, particularly in heroic cases; the character's reluctance to hit women may be portrayed as [[Good Flaws, Bad Flaws|a sympathetic flaw]] – stupid and sexist, but ultimately born out of an admirable desire to behave ethically and avoid being a bully.
Action heroes (or villains) who invoke this trope even though they face female opponents find various ways to get around it. At minimum, they'll make a quip along the lines of “I normally hate hitting women, but in this case I'll make an exception” or "I don't hit ladies, [[No True Scotsman|but you're no lady]]" before they start to strike back. They might try to find creative ways to [[To Win Without Fighting|defeat her nonviolently]], perhaps through [[Guile Hero|trickery]]; they might try to [[Martial Pacifist|minimize the necessary violence]] by using grapples or pressure point attacks rather than actual blows; or they might [[Technical Pacifist|get off on a technicality]] by doing something that indirectly results in physical harm to the female opponent without actually striking or firing a weapon against her. In supernatural settings, the problem may be resolved by the male character temporarily [[Gender Bender|turning into a woman]], voluntarily or not, thus freeing him from a gentleman's obligations toward the fairer sex. Probably the most common solution, however, is for the male character to simply [[Designated Girl Fight|defer to a female ally]] who faces no such moral dilemma.
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'''Remember, aversions go under [[Would Hit a Girl]].'''
{{examples
== 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 One Half]]'' 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
## They are invariably less powerful than he is (barring Cologne, Kiima, Herb before [[The Reveal]], and [[Monster of the Week|Rouge]] in her [[Physical God|Ashura form]]).
## He usually has to face them in goofy [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] challenges where he can't use his best attacks.
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** A fan once asked to author to expand on the scene where Sanji is beaten because he can't hurt a female assassin. The author admitted that he didn't want to write the scene, but specified that Sanji is physically unable to bring himself to hit a woman, which hurts his pride.
*** This is played with in the ''One Piece: Grand Battle'' video game. If you play as Sanji vs. any female character, his dialog will change. He'll still fight like normal, but he'll say things like "I'm so sorry!" "Oh no! What have I done!" and "[[Breaking the Fourth Wall|someone else is controlling my legs!"]]
*** 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.
** 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.
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** 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]].
** 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
*** Luffy also punched Vivi.
* ''[[Dragonball]]'' In the first Martial Arts Tournament featured, Ran-Fan's entire strategy revolves around this. That, and stripping.
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{{quote| '''Shigure:''' He treated me...as a woman. ''(light blush)''}}
* ''[[Naruto]]'' Shikamaru is faced with this moral issue [[Running Gag|several times]], though he's fine with doing it if he has to (he even tried to ''strangle'' Tayuya). Although Temari says "that it's just an act."
** 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
** 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 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.
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* ''[[Flame of Recca]]'' The normally extremely proud Mikagami fakes an injury (or rather, exaggerates a very mild one), to get out of facing a female opponent.
** If it was the fight against the Ura Uruha, then they didn't have any female members. I can't remember why he sat out that fight, but he didn't really show any problems fighting the all-female team in the previous fight (even almost killing Neon, if not for Recca gaining a new power).
* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' Apart of having the Bronze Saints consider an horrible crime to even point a finger against Saori aka Athena (though this is more for her being their Goddess and a non-combatant), Seiya refused to fight the female Silver Saint [[Woman Scorned|Ophicus]] [[Stalker With a Crush|Shaina]] often. When she specifically sought after him and tried to force him to fight, he specifically told her he wouldn't fight her because she was a girl, prompting Shaina to go into a [[Motive Rant]] to explain why she wanted to fight him. {{spoiler|Also... When she attempted an [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save him from Leo Aiolia, a part of feeling horribly guilty for Shaina's self-sacrifice, Seiya also was pissed off because Aiolia lifted a hand * against a female* . And the same happened with Saori tried a [[Batman Gambit]] to win Aiolia's favor, by letting him strike her with his most powerful technique: Seiya ''caught Aiolia's projectile'' with his hands, then told him "You wanted to hit a defenseless female? [[What the Hell, Hero?]]?!"}}
** Ironically, one of the filler episodes of the anime has Seiya kill a female warrior by attacking her while she's lying on the ground with her back turned to him.
*** And his [[Sexy Mentor]] was a girl, Aquila Marin. He seems quite confident on her skills, too.
** Made even worse in Shaina's case: [[Motive Rant]] aside, she's not just a Silver Saint (while Seiya and the rest of the [[Five
*** Then again, Seiya had already defeated so many Silver Saints the fact he's Bronze shouldn't be an issue. Why, that season's [[Big Bad]] was already calling for Gold Saints.
* ''[[Slam Dunk]]'' During the fight in the Shohoku gym one of Mitsui's gangster friends (from before his [[Heel Face Turn]]) slaps Ayako and throws her to the floor when she tells Rukawa not to fight. [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Ryota Miyagi]], who's in love with Ayako, [[Unstoppable Rage|goes absolutely apeshit]], kicks the guy to the floor * and* punches him until he's unconscious, all the while screaming that women should never be hit.
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** 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. {{spoiler|Jackie}} asks him if he's not attacking her just because she's a woman, but Renji calmly says it's not about gender but about him not being willing to attack first. {{spoiler|Considering both his [[Curb Stomp Battle]] ''and'' [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] against her...}}
** 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 ''[[Himechan no Ribon (Manga)|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.
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* ''[[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.
* ''[[Durarara]]'' Subverted: Izaya isn't one for hitting girls -- That's why he makes it a hobby of his to stomp on their cellphones instead.
** 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
* ''[[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
** 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｡ (Manga)|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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* [[Fist of the North Star|Of all types of lowlife Kenshiro]] had to face, he never had to or would fight a woman who isn't the helpless wastelander type.
* ''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys (Manga)|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
** 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 bit--the closest to this he did was to turn 180 degrees so that Yanagi kicked Ikushima's butt instead. The entire thing was, instead, ended by him showing {{spoiler|his scar}}.
** [[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
* 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 [[Mai Hi ME]] manga, this is averted when Yuuichi tries a [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]] punch on a brainwashed and insane Shiho, but this only makes things worse.
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* "''The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz''" by Don Martin. Parodied in the short story "Chicken Soup", the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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]]. [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
* ''[[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.
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* ''[[XXX (Film)|xXx]]: State of the Union'' Almost averted. Darius had no problem punching or incapacitating [[Dark Action Girl|Charlie]], but seems cannot bring himself finish her off. [[Colonel Badass|His superior]] must do this for him, saying "I told you you should kill that bitch".
* ''[[Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai]]'' plays with this trope. Louie, despite being a mobster, won't take any action against a female [[Meddlesome Patrolman|traffic cop]] who pulled him over for speeding, even though she's needlessly holding him up from attempting to get his dying friend Vinny to the hospital. Vinny, however, (who is also a mobster) [[Would Hit a Girl|doesn't even hesitate to shoot her]]. When a horrified Louie calls him on it, Vinny responds by saying that he's just treating her like he would any other cop.
* ''[[The Good the Bad And The Ugly]]'' averts this trope in order to [[Kick the Dog|show how evil The Bad is]]. However, according to an interview with the actor in question (Lee Van Cleef), he [[Mean Character, Nice Actor|refused to actually hit her]], so they had to use his stunt man for that scene.
* ''[[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.
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* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', book version. Harry is almost absurdly chivalrous. He knows it, and considers it a weakness (he's definitely met his fair share of evil women), but can't seem to do anything about it. He has been able to make himself attack women in very extreme circumstances, but it requires him being pushed right to the wall before he can overcome his chivalrous reflex enough to even defend himself properly from a female attacker.
** So, so averted in the later books, though. [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires of either sex are fair game]], for starters.
*** It's actually played straight due to [[What Measure Is a Non
* ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (by Edmund Spenser, published first in three books [[Older Than Steam|in 1590]]): While a pervert torturing a helpless [[Damsel in Distress]] for his own sadistic pleasure is despicable, a knight refusing to fight a [[Dark Action Girl]] Amazon queen who's trying to kill him [[What an Idiot!|is just stupid]], as Artegall, the Knight of Justice with a strict code against fighting women, learns the hard way. Good thing [[James Bondage|his girlfriend comes to his rescue]].
* 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 (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'' generally averts this as the majority of duels are done with wands instead of fists. Notable is from [[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix|the fifth book]] where Harry wants to outright kill Bellatrix and is able to knock her off her feet for a moment. However from the same book there is a DA session where Michael Corner appears unwilling to try and disarm Ginny though she is his girlfriend. Interestingly, this is subtly presented as evidence of his jerkassery, rather than chivalry.
* Subverted in ''A World Gone Mad''. Jerkass [[Anti
** 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 [[Hells Gate]] series where both empires have big, big issues with harming women.
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** Variations on this trope come up a couple of times. ''The Princess, the Crone, and the Dungcart Knight,'' an adaptation of [[Chretien De Troyes (Creator)|Chretien De Troyes]]' ''The Knight of the Cart'', features a girl with a sword, who has to cope both with the fact that she's about eleven and that she's female in terms of getting taken seriously. Although people not taking her seriously is the only reason she survives the book, given all she ever gets trained to do is quickdraw.
* The Sisters of the Light attempt to invoke this with Richard in the [[Sword of Truth]] book, Stone of Tears. He promptly tells them off for how stupid that idea is.
* Played straight in ''[[Never Let Me Go]]''. [[Hair
* In ''[[Goosebumps|Monster Blood III]]'' , Evan and [[Gender Blender Name|Andy]] can't stop laughing after drinking a formula they were given. When [[The Bully|Conan]] thinks they are laughing at him, he beats up Evan. Since he doesn't hit girls, he sticks Andy on a tree branch.
* It's Madeline Bassett's good fortune that [[Jeeves and Wooster (Literature)|Bertie Wooster]] is too much of a proper Englishman to knock some understanding into her in ''Right Ho, Jeeves''.
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* 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.
* Both played straight and subverted in a single episode of ''[[Highlander the Series]]''. An immortal former lover of Duncan's, (a [[Psycho Ex Girlfriend]] sort) with a penchant for trying to ruin his life (or the lives of people around him) including by murdering potential [[Love Interests]] shows up. When they duel, Duncan disarms her but cannot bring himself to kill her. At that point Methos, a friend of Duncan's and a 5,000 year old [[Anti
* ''[[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.
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*** Though this may actually have nothing to do with the "female" part of this, because he has absolutely no problem hitting her at other times. Or anyone else.
** In the series penultimate episode "The Hollow Men", In a weird case of [[Gender Bender]], Echo fights an evil copy of Rossum co-founder Clyde Randolph, who is now imprinted in the female body of Whiskey/Dr. Saunders. He states beforehand that this is the first time he can hit a girl without feeling guilty.
** Topher also knocks out Bennett when he discovers she's trying to kill (rather than retrieve) Echo. It came out amusingly awkward, given that a.) she's a girl, b.) she's one-armed, c.) she's his [[Love Interest]] and d.) he's ''[[Non
* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' One episode had Hera send a female [[Terminator]] [[Expy]] called the Enforcer to kill Hercules. Hercules shouts in despair that he can't fight a woman, but when he feels how hard she can punch, he goes, "Maybe I should be more open-minded" and fights for real, ultimately winning. I don't think he has a problem fighting women for the rest of the series.
* ''[[Smallville]]'' Clark Kent doesn't normally have a problem fighting women, but he hesitated when fighting Faora, because she was in Lois Lane's body. Ouch.
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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|Badasses]] and/or [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]] they are. Usually the assailant will be a heel. Once, just to be a dick, Armando Alejandro Estrada got his wrestler Umaga booked to fight the tiny Maria Kanellis. [[Captain Obvious|(Maria lost.)]] Then Charlie Haas and Viscera got into a feud over who would date ring announcer Lilian Garcia: after Haas raked Viscera's eyes, the giant, temporarily blinded, grabbed Garcia apparently mistaking her for Haas (absurd, Haas weighed twice as much) and Samoan Dropped her, nearly breaking her neck. At first Viscera appeared to feel chagrin of the [[My God, What Have I Done?]] variety, but then both he and Haas laughed and explained that they'd set it up as a "hilarious" joke at Garcia's expense. But one incident with particularly [[Unfortunate Implications]] had [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] (a face at the time) hit Stacy Keibler (also a face) in a skit that was supposed to be ''funny''. Austin kicked Keibler in the stomach and then knocked her out [[Disproportionate Retribution|because she had declined his offer of a beer!]] [[Dude, Not Funny|(There are some things you just can't do, and beating up a woman half your size for comedy is one of them.)]] Keibler later was the victim of a similar assault (an RKO) from then-boyfriend [[Randy Orton]], but that was meant to show that the face Orton was turning heel.
* 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 [[Di Biase]], 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.
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* 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 (Video Game)|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 ''[[Blaz Blue]]'', this is one of the [[Pet the Dog|nicer traits]] of [[Badass|Ragna]] [[One
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* ''Birdman'': It turns out the titular hero refuses to harm women in "Empress of Evil," the one episode to feature a female villain. Fortunately, that's what non-injurious (and completely out-of-nowhere) "stun rays" are for.
* ''[[The Cleveland Show]]'': A female character in one episode was beating down all of the male characters in Cleveland's house causing Donna to ask him why no one is fighting back. When he responds with "She's a woman", Donna steps in and wins the fight, saving the day.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' which usually averts this has one exception. Girls and guys regularly get smacked around. Sam of the [[Token Trio]] is just as likely to take damage as her friends. Danny, being a hero, constantly battles both male and female villains without clause. That also includes [[Anti
* ''[[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." }}
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