For the re-definition TRS
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Cassie Cage: Didn't they teach you respect?
Erron Black: They taught me to hit back.
If he's good, it's either because he's just not sexist and he believes in beating people up equally, or because he knows that holding back against female opponents is a good way to get his ass kicked or killed or endanger his friends/allies/muggles. Alternatively, it could be the victim who tries to argue that he shouldn't hit her because she's a woman; the narrative depicts the claim as wrong, allowing him to proceed. In all these scenarios, he will stop as soon as she's no longer a threat.
If he's evil, it could be done in a multitude of ways. On the best end of the scale it could just be Equal-Opportunity Evil, like fighting Batgirl because she's a threat, and makes her look stronger when she beats him. More unpleasantly, it shows a Dirty Coward, attacking those weaker than him, and/or he's a bully who likes to make people afraid of him, or at the worst end of the scale, he's a sick monster who gets his kicks from hurting women. Ultimately, for it to be played as a villainous deed, it is necessary that the woman in question is not a threat to start with.
Naturally, modern female characters tend to go into battle fully expecting to be hit. If anything, many of them would probably be insulted if a male opponent went easy on them because of their sex. That said, an unprovoked attack on a girl, especially one who can't fight back, is still often played as a Kick the Dog moment, more so than if the genders were reversed. In milder works it is perfect as a Moral Event Horizon without the need for gore, torture, rape or death — it shows the villain will even hurt those who pose no threat.
This can often overlap with What Measure Is a Non-Human?, where even a hero who would not usually hit a girl has no qualms about it if she is some kind of witch, alien or whatever. In these cases, it may be more or less justified, depending on how obviously inhuman the female enemy is.
The opposite trope is, of course, Wouldn't Hit a Girl. When hitting girls is Played for Laughs it can be a case of slapstick. Obviously not present when a woman hits a woman. If the circumstance is designed so that women are only hit by other women than it is a Designated Girl Fight.
If he's good, it's either because he's just not sexist and he believes in beating people up equally, or because he knows that holding back against female opponents is a good way to get his ass kicked or killed or endanger his friends/allies/muggles. In earlier works, the usual formula for invoking this was to say that he would "never hit a lady" - but "you're no lady" after the woman in question attacked him first or otherwise showed herself to be of low character.note Either way he stops as soon as she's no longer a threat.
If he's evil, it could be done in a multitude of ways. On the best end of the scale it could just be Equal-Opportunity Evil, like fighting Batgirl because she's a threat, and makes her look stronger when she beats him. More unpleasantly, it shows a Dirty Coward, attacking those weaker than him, and/or he's a bully who likes to make people afraid of him, or at the worst end of the scale, he's a sick monster who gets his kicks from hurting women. Ultimately, for it to be played as a villainous deed, it is necessary that the woman in question is not a threat to start with.
Naturally, modern female characters tend to go into battle fully expecting to be hit. If anything, many of them would probably be insulted if a male opponent went easy on them because of their sex. That said, an unprovoked attack on a girl, especially one who can't fight back, is still often played as a Kick the Dog moment, more so than if the genders were reversed. In milder works it is perfect as a Moral Event Horizon without the need for gore, torture, rape or death — it shows the villain will even hurt those who pose no threat.
In terms of censorship and editing on TV, any scene of male physical violence on females sometimes vary, including flashes, cutaways, or even trimming or cutting out the scene all together, to maintain a tasteful image. Even if it's the bad guy doing it.
This can often overlap with What Measure Is a Non-Human?, where even a hero who would not usually hit a girl has no qualms about it if she is some kind of witch, alien or whatever. In these cases, it may be more or less justified, depending on how obviously inhuman the female enemy is.
The opposite trope is, of course, Wouldn't Hit a Girl. When hitting girls is Played for Laughs it can be a case of slapstick. Obviously not present when a woman hits a woman. If the circumstance is designed so that women are only hit by other women than it is a Designated Girl Fight.
Would Hit a Girl by itself is People Sit on Chairs, as in modern times there are no standards that would protect people of one gender against being hurt in whatever situation. Only noteworthy Averted count, which can be made so, if they occur when, for example:
- The work published in certain time period, for a certain target demographic or in a culture, where Women Are Delicate or Females Are More Innocent beliefs are promoted, creating Values Dissonance or Deliberate Values Dissonance in its place of publication.
- The story has an In-Universe note that women are considered a protected class of some kind, like works set in Matriarchy, Princesses Rule or Lady Land, and violence against them would be considered alarming, amoral or law-breaking by the setting.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male is played straight, then Subverted when the male decides to deal with it aggressively. Said trope can be double subverted if people call out the male for hitting the female despite the female being the one starting it first.
- The female is The Fake Cutie, is a Charm Person, or invokes Wouldn't Hit a Girl with malevolent intent, however their would-be victim rejects them with justified force.
- The male is an Anti-Hero who doesn't follow the standards and get a What the Hell, Hero? moment from others, more traditionally-heroic characters.
- Is done by a villain as a Kick the Dog moment and by no one else.
