History Main / WouldntHitAGirl

* Subverted majorly with WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls. Yes, the villains, criminals and monsters ''would'' hit a girl.

** [[ChivalrousPervert Sanji]] chivalrously refuses to fight women, or in one case, Mr. 2 Bon Clay taking the form of a woman (Nami) [[note]]although this case is slightly justified since Nami is his Kryptonite even outside battle [[/note]], even if it means his death. A fan once asked the author to expand on the scene where Sanji is beaten because he can't hurt a female assassin. Oda admitted that he didn't want to write the scene since it's a real-life problem men go through, but specified that Sanji is physically unable to bring himself to hit a woman, which hurts his pride. For Sanji, it's {{justified|Trope}} due to being ''raised'' in this trope; his father and brothers abused him all throughout his childhood, whilst his mother and sister were the only ones who showed him love and kindness, and his beloved ParentalSubstitute, fearsome ChefOfIron "Red Leg" Zeff, is adamant that it's unmanly to hit women. Mind you, Sanji may be [[ALessonLearnedTooWell implementing Zeff's beliefs more intently than Zeff intended]], in no small part because he remembers Zeff [[GroinAttack threatening to castrate him if he ever learned of Sanji hitting a girl]]. He's also often set against men who actively [[WouldHitAGirl hurt and abuse]] women like Absalom and Niji (his brother).\\\

* Criminal courts are shown to be more lenient towards female defendants, and gives them sentences that are not harsh, severe, or strict, are less likely to be convicted or given a custodial sentence, and are more likely to get bail after being arrested.

* ''Fanfic/SpiderNinja'': Casey Jones admits to Raph that, along with Purple Dragons, he mainly targets [[WifeBeaterBeater guys who abuse women]]. The fact that he accidentally hurt Spider-Ninja (a fourteen-year-old [[GenderFlip girl]]) horrifies him (although he was initially more horrified at the fact that he injured a [[WouldntHurtAChild kid]].

** Inuyasha generally won't kill human-looking girls, with Kagome usually doing the deed. Jakotsu, the flamboyantly gay villain with a crush on Inuyasha, was actually originally supposed to be female. The author changed him to male because she didn't want Inuyasha to kill a human-looking girl. [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman Monstrous-looking females]] like a centipede woman or floating heads seem fair game to kill though.\\\
** There's an exception in a battle [[CharacterizationMarchesOn early on]], as Inuyasha cuts off the hand of the {{Youkai}}, Yura of the Hair, who looks like a young girl, and later thrusts his fist through her chest and out her back. That said, it's still Kagome that actually kills her. Another exception is against Abi, Inuyasha remarks that he doesn't like fighting women, but she's so evil that he'll make an exception. However, Naraku "gave" Abi a trident (made from his bones) that creates a defensive barrier. Eventually, it is Naraku who kills both Abi and her mother.\\\

* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': Inuyasha generally won't kill human-looking girls, with Kagome usually doing the deed. Jakotsu, the flamboyantly gay villain with a crush on Inuyasha, was actually originally supposed to be female. The author changed him to male because she didn't want Inuyasha to kill a human-looking girl. [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman Monstrous-looking females]] like a centipede woman or floating heads seem fair game to kill though.\\\
There's an exception in a battle [[CharacterizationMarchesOn early on]], as Inuyasha cuts off the hand of the {{Youkai}}, Yura of the Hair, who looks like a young girl, and later thrusts his fist through her chest and out her back. That said, it's still Kagome that actually kills her. Another exception is against Abi, Inuyasha remarks that he doesn't like fighting women, but she's so evil that he'll make an exception. However, Naraku "gave" Abi a trident (made from his bones) that creates a defensive barrier. Eventually, it is Naraku who kills both Abi and her mother.\\\
The trope gets played for laughs in ''[[Anime/InuyashaTheMovieTheCastleBeyondTheLookingGlass The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass]]''. 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 that 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."

* ''Film/GhostDogTheWayOfTheSamurai'' plays with this trope. Louie, despite being a mobster, won't take any action against a female [[MeddlesomePatrolman 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), [[WouldHitAGirl 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.

** Bond is ''accused'' of this (at least if the girl is beautiful) by his superiors in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' after he alters a plan to cover a defection by shooting the rifle out of a female KGB sniper's hands instead of shooting the sniper, but counters that it isn't killing ''women'' he has a problem with, it's [[spoiler: civilians. He could see from the way she was holding the rifle that the woman ''wasn't'' trained in its use and so couldn't be a professional sniper]].

* PlayedWith in ''WebComic/MobPsycho100'' during the ''7th Division'' Arc. The titular protagonist is pitted against Tsuchiya, a muscle woman who's[[TheSmurfettePrinciple the only female villain among the Scars]]. Despite being pummeled by her, Mob is uncomfortable with having to fight her because his master taught him that "[[DomesticAbuse Guys who go around beating women]] are the biggest losers in the world". [[VillainRespect Tsuchiya is flattered by his chivalry ]]but encourages him to fight back by saying that she can handle herself against him. [[spoiler:[[CurbStompBattle The next panel shows her beaten unconscious on the floor]]]].

-->'''Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}:''' If there's one thing I hate, it's hittin' a dame.\\

* The first time [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] encountered a female villain, he said that he couldn't hit a girl. He gets over some of it at some point. However, in ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'''s Black Cat arc, he's still reluctant to fight with either Black Cat or Elektra.

* Though it's just flavor text, in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', if the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] and ComicBook/SheHulk are facing each other, the Hulk will grouse that he doesn't like hitting girls. Considering She-Hulk is his cousin, Hulk probably wouldn't like hitting her in any case.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'': [[BadBoss Black]] [[AxCrazy Mask]] goes off on a tangent and punches all of his lieutenants, ''except'' Ms. Li, despite the fact that she's a bit of a DeadpanSnarker towards him (emphasis on deadpan).

** "Red Leg" Zeff believes firmly in two things: That a man should strive to be manly, and that it is the height of unmanliness to hurt a woman. He even proclaims that not hitting women is "the iron-clad rule of this universe since the time of dinosaurs". He refuses to have women working in his kitchen not because he's being sexist, but because he can only correct the mistakes of his staff by kicking them in the head, and he ''absolutely'' refuses to but women through that. He believes so fiercely in it that when a young Sanji questions his logic, [[CranialEruption Zeff gives him several bumps in the head]] and [[FreudianThreat threatens to slice his balls off]] if Sanji even thinks of kicking a woman. He also threatens to take his own life right after, because it would mean he failed to properly educate Sanji as his [[ParentalSubstitute parent]].

** "Red Leg" Zeff believes firmly in two things: That a man should strive to be manly, and that it is the height of unmanliness to hurt a woman. He even proclaims that not hitting women is "the iron-clad rule of this universe since the time of dinosaurs".

* ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'': The eponymous character is called out by his own girlfriend as being a pussy for not hitting girls. She ends up grabbing him by the arm and hitting the girls who were attacking them with his fist, because [[{{Foreshadowing}} "you've got to learn how to hit a girl, Scott."]]

* ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} pretty much lives by this trope. So whenever he has to deal with his nemesis, the Sea Hag, he usually lets a spinach-fueled Olive handle the fighting. However, in the original ''Thimble Theater'' comic strip, he feels conflicted about hitting the Sea Hag at first, but then decides that it's okay because her mean nature makes her "no lady."

* During one segment on ''Series/TheView'', the hosts discussed a news story that involved a certain male celebrity who had been captured on video knocking his girlfriend to the ground ''after'' the woman herself punched the man in the head. Almost all of the hosts expressed shock and disgust that he would do that. Creator/WhoopiGoldberg, on the other hand, blamed the woman for her own beatdown, saying, "Any time it's appropriate for a man to hit another man, it's appropriate for him to hit a woman," and continuing that "self-defense" is an appropriate time for a man to start swinging.

* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': While dealing with a female bully in "Jiu-Jitsu, Bubble Wrap, and Yoo-Hoo," Sheldon is told that he must observe this trope. He comes up with the "loophole" of paying Missy to do it for him. Missy ends up befriending the bully instead.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade]], Heath objects to his boss Eubans telling his mercenary unit to attack the heroes' group on the basis that there are women and children in it, calling it "something no man could do without shame". This unfortunately doesn't last, as Eubans blackmails him into going along by reminding him he's a fugitive from Bern and threatening to send him back, but Heath is conflicted enough about it that he can be recruited if you speak to him with any of the lords (or Ninian).

* ''VideoGame/JumpForce'': Just like in his home series, Sanji refuses to fight any female oponent, which in-game means he's an absolute sitting duck when there's a female opponent, as all his attacks turn into hearts that cause no damage. To a minor degree [[Manga/CityHunter Ryo Saeba]] turns into an ApologeticAttacker when he faces a female opponent, but his throw changes: he tries to cop a feel, only to get hit from a hammer thrown off-screen at him.

* The VillainProtagonist Hunter Ravenwood of ''Webcomic/SuicideForHire'' claims that [[EvenEvilHasStandards "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's 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.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/content-menu/stories/324-ecila-in-normalland-chapter-2-this-is-madness Eclia in Normalland: Chapter 2]]: When Josie is made to fight Less Than Three ("an adorable little blonde kid in curls who was even shorter than I was, wearing a smart pair of goggles. She looked kind of like a Shirley Temple playing the part of Daniel-san in [[Film/TheKarateKid1984 the Karate Kid movie]]."):

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': Brock Samson, the MadeOfIron murder-happy bodyguard, follows his mentor Hunter Gathers's rules to the letter: "[[Film/TheProfessional no women, no kids]]." [[spoiler:Gathers, on the run from the law years later, uses this to his advantage: he gets a sex change before Brock can catch up to him.]] Brock still seems to think the rule is silly.