Line #56 Main/AllAbusersAreMale


1	%%Please do not post any pictures of rape or abuse of any kind. Thanks.
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3	%% Image selected per Image Pickin thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=17116522450.98175100
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6	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Battered}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/battered_movie.png]]]]
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8	The direct consequence of invoking and applying FemalesAreMoreInnocent as an all-time rule is the belief that women have the physical capacity of a kleenex and thus couldn't possibly cause harm to anyone even if they tried. This trope is the result.
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10	If you learn about DomesticAbuse, rape, or other forms of interpersonal violence from dramatic works, [[PublicServiceAnnouncement public service announcements]] or {{Very Special Episode}}s, you may come away believing All Abusers Are Male. Most works that address the seriousness of abuse frame it as something committed ''only'' by male perpetrators, usually against female victims. This isn't just when an individual work depicts a male abuser or rapist; this is an [[TropesInAggregate aggregate trope]] that exists through many works depicting male abusers and not female ones, creating the impression that abuse never has female perpetrators. Ongoing series may have multiple episodes depicting abusive men and none with an abusive woman. Some works have male victims, but still have male abusers without female-on-male abuse. Belief in this trope is implied when characters that are anti-rape and anti-violence treat them as male-only problems.
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12	This trope is different from DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale, DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale, and DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale. Those tropes acknowledge that women commit acts of domestic violence and acts of rape, but [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent treat them as less harmful and easily forgive or dismiss them based on their gender dynamics]].
13
14	Straight examples must imply or explicitly state that abuse or rape is ''only'' perpetrated by [[TheUnfairSex men]], and women are either [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent never abusive]] or never to the same extent as men. The most common aversion of this trope is the WickedStepmother. Most of the subversions and aversions listed on this page are intended to be a PlotTwist in the story -- meaning that even when the trope is not enforced, the writers still expect the audience to believe in it and be surprised when an abuser is female.
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16	The possible [[DistaffCounterpart feminine equivalent]] of this trope is MoreDeadlyThanTheMale.
17
18	Please avoid TakeThat edits due to the nature of this trope.
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20	As with all SexualHarassmentAndRapeTropes, '''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''
21
22	[[noreallife]]
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Advertising]]
29	* Two anti-domestic violence bus ads by the Family Place of Dallas takes this to the extreme by showing a picture of a cute little boy saying that "when I grow up I will beat my wife" and one with a cute little girl said "one day my husband will kill me". The message given in the rest of the ad is if you raise a boy in a house with the abuse he will become an abuser but if you raise a girl in the same environment she will become a victim. Statistically, ''both'' are much more likely than in a regular home, regardless of gender.
30	%% * [[http://thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk/ This]] teen-violence series of [=PSAs=] from Great Britain.
31	* An Australian ad campaign features a series of women describing abuse and/or men justifying said abuse, with the tagline "to violence against women, Australia says NO". Given that it is intended to be a general campaign against rape and domestic abuse, the sex-specific nature is puzzling.
32	* Similarly, an American ad campaign featured a small boy witnessing what was obviously his father abusing his mother off-screen, with the tagline "End the cycle. Teach him that violence against women is ''not'' okay." There was, unsurprisingly, no concurrent campaign about teaching him not to abuse ''men'', or teaching your ''daughter'' that abuse is not okay.
33	%% * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bY4uoDV_pU&feature=player_embedded This advertising campaign]] to end rape.
34	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jel_9dMrOWs&feature=player_embedded This advertising campaign to end rape.]] Ends with the tagline 'rape is a hate crime against women', implying both that only women can be victims and only men can be aggressors.
35	%% * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=367JvtoTm34]] Verizon's new domestic violence ad.
36	%% * The series of [=PSA=]s in the No More campaign, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTp-k5G_okY this one]] have this trope going for them hard, right down to the assumption that only women are victims of domestic abuse and rape.
37	* Subverted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdUYPcEgooc this]] ad, in which the end reveals that the abuser is a woman, and the victim is a man.
38	* A 2015 Ad Council campaign: "You taught him how to hit the baseball. You taught him how to hit the catcher... but how much time have you spent teaching him what ''not'' to hit? Teach him early. Violence against women is wrong." As though little girls innately know not to hit boys.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
42	* ''Manga/ConfidentialConfessions'': All abuse, be it physical, emotional or sexual, was committed by a man, while the worst a female character could be was a "mere" bully.
43	* ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'' [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zags this]]. [[spoiler:Chikane rapes Himeko as a part of her gambit, and she also is sexually harassed by Miyako]]. But the female abusers are not treated as such or given irredeemable status. The male Orochi who also tries to rape Himeko, however, is actually also treated sympathetically and given a happy ending like everyone else.
44	* ''Anime/ADogOfFlanders1975'': Alois' father is strict and treats her harshly in the name of discipline, even barring her from seeing Nello because of their class difference, but her mother is sweet and caring and supports him and Alois' friendship. Patrasche's old owner was also an abusive alcoholic man.
45	* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Akito, the head of the Sohma family, abuses the Zodiac members in every way imaginable, but [[spoiler:it's later revealed that Akito is actually female, having been RaisedAsTheOppositeGender with only a select few people knowing the truth]]. In fact, most abuse is parental [[spoiler:and Ren, the GreaterScopeVillain who's responsible for Akito being so unstable, is Akito's mother]]. Rin's mother and father abused her equally, and maternal rejection/disownment plays a large part in both Momiji and Yuki's [[DarkAndTroubledPast issues.]] Overall, the series shows its female characters as a roughly even mix of bad (the above) and good.
46	* ''Anime/IeNakiKoRemi'': The anime portrays most male parental figures (such as Jérôme Barberin and Gaspard) as [[AbusiveParents abusive dads]] motivated by {{Greed}}, while female parental figures (such as Mrs. Milligan and Anna Barberin) are always kind, caring and ready to adopt children in need. Though Vitalis and Mattia's father defy this, being benevolent fathers to Remi and Mattia respectively.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Comic Books]]
50	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': The ComicBook/New52 ''ComicBook/{{Batman\|2011}}'' very jarringly changed Jonathan Crane's FreudianExcuse from being abused by his fanatically religious great-grandmother to being experimented on by his MadScientist father (the father had been previously shown as an ex-military type who abandoned him, with no indication he was a scientist).
51	* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': While Wally West's father is physically abusive and generally a HateSink, his mother is nearly as bad, as she manipulates Wally for her own financial gain and went out of her way to crush his dreams as a child.
52	* ''ComicBook/{{Impulse}}'': Subverted, as one of Bart's classmates is terrified of disappointing his father and is showing signs of being abused. Bart naturally suspects the father, but it turns out to be the boy's ''mother'', who is mentally imbalanced and is keeping her actions a secret from her husband. As soon as the father discovers this, ''he'' intervenes to protect his son; Bart is not needed.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Fan Works]]
56	* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fandom plays this trope frustratingly straight. Any deconstruction of the happy Weasley family idea will have either Arthur abusing Molly, or Ron abusing Hermione. No one ever worries about the reverse happening, never mind that Molly is clearly the one in charge in the Arthur/Molly relationship and that while Ron has insulted Hermione a couple times and gotten jealous of her boyfriends, Hermione has done the same, as well as [[spoiler:conjuring birds to peck him on one occasion and punching him on another.]]
57	** Both played straight and subverted in ''Fanfic/OriginStory''. During a psychological evaluation with Doc Samson, Alexandra Harris reveals that while her father occasionally hit her when she was a kid, "if I counted the number of times he did it on both hands, I'd have fingers left over." Her father was an emotional abuser more than a physical one. It was her mother who was much more likely to physically abuse her. Doc Samson notes that emotional abuse is just as damaging as physical abuse.
58	* In ''Fanfic/InThisWorldAndTheNext'', RonTheDeathEater is a rapist [[GratuitousRape for no good reason]]. In the alternate timeline, he gets turned into a girl, which will apparently stop this from happening. The fic stops just short of directly citing this trope.
59	* ''Fanfic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME'' overall averts this. Of all the abusers featured in this series, more than half of them are female.
60	** ''Fanfic/MyNameIsCinder'': The eponymous character's mother, Brigit Stark, is incredibly abusive when Cinder finds out about [[BitchInSheepsClothing her true nature]] and tries to expose her. She also attempts to drive her husband to suicide knowing that he has depression, thus being emotionally abusive to him as well.
61	** ''Fanfic/TheBlackHearts'': While Marcus is the main abuser of the Black family by abusing [[DomesticAbuse his wife]] and [[AbusiveParents his son]], Melanie is still abusive to Mercury in her own right. More emotionally so, but the narrative does not skirt away from showing that she is still an abuser even though she is being abused herself. And not a TroubledAbuser either since she is as much of a HateSink as Marcus is.
62	** ''Fanfic/{{CRME}}'': Cinder enters a relationship with Emerald to manipulate her and she can be physically abusive to her -- such as slapping her when she raises concerns -- as well as verbally and emotionally abusive.
63	* Lyra in ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'' uses this trope to her advantage, forcing Pyrrha to tell the police that her father, Orion (who she had just murdered for defending Pyrrha), was the one abusing them. It works.
64	* ''[[Fanfic/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' contained a very deliberate subversion of this trope. [[spoiler:In the original comics, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk and his mother Rebecca were violently abused by Bruce Banner's father Brian. In this AlternateUniverseFic, however, little Bruce is instead molested by his mother Rebecca, who violently attacks Brian with a knife whenever he tries to protect his son. This inversion from the comics was deliberately done to highlight how men can be victims of domestic violence too.]]
65	* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'' averts this hard, as there are several female abusers, including female rapists. This is made clear in the very first chapter with Shenzi being Timon's assailant.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Film]]
69	* ''Film/BadBlack'':
70	** Black's foster uncle is the one who wanted her out of the house.
71	** A boy in the commando's gang said he ran away from home because he was afraid his step-father would beat him.
72	** Hirigi beats his wife and also his son, and has kicked both his children out of his house for marrying below their social status.
73	* Although not ''every'' man in the UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} film ''Film/{{Lajja}}'' is abusive, all the abuse in the film is committed by men. The women in the film are all presented as pure and innocent, and many have been abused by the men or policies created by them.
74	* It seems every [[LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek Lifetime]] movie is about a woman being abused in some way by a man, save for the 1993 TV movie ''Film/MenDontTell'', which features Judith Light abusing Peter Strauss. Naturally enough, no one believes that Strauss's character is being abused until his ''daughter'' tells police that she "doesn't want Mommy to hurt Daddy anymore." In 2008, 15 years after broadcast, one New York Times reviewer did a special article about ''Men Don't Tell''. In this article, the reviewer pointed out that while many movies of the week featuring battered women had, since their initial broadcast, been repeated over and over and over and over and over, ''Men Don't Tell'' had only ever been broadcast once. She (the reviewer) specifically cited this trope almost by name as the reason why. In response to the review, Lifetime rebroadcast the film. But only once. The lack of rebroadcast before was apparently due to protests by women's groups.
75	* Though ''She Stole My Voice'', a documentary about lesbian rape, averts this trope overall, the interviews uphold it. Many people state that women cannot rape or that they would much rather see their girlfriends raped by women than by men since men are more of a real threat. [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zagged]] though: the lack of acknowledgement of female-male rapes implies only women can be victims of rape. Although the rapist can be a woman as well as a male.
76	* In ''Film/SororityRow'', [[spoiler:Andy Richards has commited a killing spree (as "the Graduate") mainly to Theta Pi, a sorority who knew about Megan's death. A bit downplayed at first due to his love for his girlfriend Cassidy Tappan, who was once part of that same sorority (especially since his intent was to "purify" her from all of the sins around her), this later became completely straight after she found out about his murderous nature throughout the entire film]].
77	* In ''Film/{{A Wrinkle in Time\|2018}}'', the Happy Medium shows a vision of Calvin being verbally abused by his father. In [[Literature/AWrinkleInTime the book]], the vision was of his ''mother'' physically abusing one of his siblings.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Literature]]
81	* The book ''Amy & Isabelle'' features an example of domestic abuse where the mother Isabelle - after discovering her daughter Amy has been having an affair with her teacher - attacks her and [[TraumaticHaircut cuts off all her hair]]. The narrative treats Isabelle sympathetically since the incident harkens back to [[spoiler:when she herself had an affair with an older man and got pregnant with Amy]]. Had it been a father doing this to his daughter, it would have been presented as a MoralEventHorizon. So essentially Isabelle becomes a KarmaHoudini because she's only reacting to a male abuser's actions.
82	* The [=YA=] novel ''Black-Eyed Suzie'' is a subversion; the reader knows from the very beginning that the protagonist, twelve-year-old Suzie, is abused by her mother, and the workers at the children's mental hospital ''do'' suspect something when her mother attacks her during a visit. Despite this, when Suzie finally speaks near the end of the book and reveals she was abused at home, the staff first suspect that it's her ''father'' that's the abuser. Luckily, she quickly tells them no, it's her mother, and they believe her, but still...
83	* Toyed with in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice''. Gender roles are largely reversed in this world and women are the ones with real power. The fact that some women abuse their husbands is common knowledge; the male viewpoint character actively fears being married to the wrong kind of family and the female viewpoint character, having gotten to know him, is afraid of this prospect. Later in the novel we see the repercussions of an abusive ''husband'' running wild on a family, and find that while this happens often enough that there's precedent for what to do - divorcing him and sending him back to his sisters - it just isn't talked about or feared nearly as much as the other kind.
84	* Subverted in ''{{Literature/Divergent}}''. Four's father Marcus was abusive to him but when we meet his mother Evelyn, it turns out she faked her death and abandoned her son too. It's pointed out that she was no better than Marcus, and she spends the entire book trying to win back her son's love.
85	* The abusive people Bella meets in ''Literature/ADogsWayHome'' are all male. After meeting one too many trying to hurt her human peers, she quickly learns that sometimes it's "okay" for a dog to be aggressive towards people if they're protecting someone. The closest female characters to being abusive are all of the neglectful sort, not emotionally or physically abusive, and are more sympathetically portrayed.
86	* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' this is exploited; there is a female character who tortures people for ''fun'', and is said to have raped a man (but due to the prevalence of this trope, no one believed him until it was too late. He's likely not her only victim). The man who survived to talk about her made use of this trope by pretending to be a masochist and have enjoyed the torture she inflicted on him, so she doesn't feel the need to kill him. It says something about the power of prejudice that this actually ''works'' - she apparently believes she's relatively safer if people just know about the torture, believing it to be consensual, than if they find a corpse.
87	* ''Literature/{{Forbidden}}'' [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] this trope and connects it to BrotherSisterIncest. Lochan and Maya are a brother and sister who secretly have a completely consensual romantic relationship, and have decided not to have sex yet because they are afraid of being found out. Lochan states that, if they do have sex and someone finds out, everyone will automatically assume he was raping her, due to him being both the guy and about a year older than her, as well as the uncommonness of consensual incestuous relationships. [[spoiler:They do end up having sex towards the end of the book and, sure enough, all this happens.]]
88	* ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'':
89	** The only characters who are ever openly considered rapists are men and Joscelin is the only person who really considers Melisande abusive. Considering that Melisande [[spoiler: drugs and rapes Phedre after getting her family killed]], this is pretty absurd.
90	** Also, during the entire Drujan incident, all of the ''really'' evil characters are male. The women are captives, possibly selfish or bitter, but not worshipers of the god of evil. In general, in these books, women may be devious, ruthless, and order murder to be done, but they never go in ForTheEvulz.
91	** However, in the second trilogy where Imriel is the POV character, he is assaulted by a bear-witch woman. It is made very clear that he considers the act a violation and that his very consensual-sex-oriented gods would intervene or avenge him.
92	* ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'': One of the series' major running themes is misogyny. It delves into this theme extensively, drawing from the author's journalistic experience. This inevitably hasn't pleased everyone.
93	-->''"The book's original Swedish title was ''Men Who Hate Women'', a label that just about captures the subtlety of the novel's sexual politics."'' -- Reviewer Alex Berenson
94	* ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'': Sexual violence is a theme explored heavily in the books, as a result of Mary's rape and its aftermath. While causes are discussed, they focus solely on men. There is not a single mention of the idea that women can also be the perpetrators (nor with {{domestic abuse}}, which also comes up), with a biological explanation that could ''only'' apply with males given for its occurrence.
95	* In ''Literature/OrangesAreNotTheOnlyFruit'', Jeanette Winterson frequently mentions that men are too barbaric/greedy/cruel/selfish/etc to be fit for romantic love. Despite her experience with Mrs. Jewsberry which could arguably be considered rape, she seems to consistently have a higher opinion of women than of men.
96	* In ''Literature/SexingTheCherry'', Jordan is the only male character who is not a monster or otherwise worthless. The idea that men use women and do not care about them is played to death.
97	* In ''Raising a Modern-Day Knight'', author Robert Lewis claims that, "Men commit 100 percent of rapes."
98	* Possibly only coincidentally portrayed in ''OneHundredStrokesOfTheBrushBeforeBed''. Melissa has many arguably abusive relationships with men and, despite being equally submissive with women, never runs into nearly such situations with female lovers.
99	* The novel ''Literature/AThousandAcres'' is a SettingUpdate of ''Theatre/KingLear'' set on a farm. It imagines the Lear analogue as an abusive patriarch who has sexually abused his two eldest daughters. Let it be noted that Lear in the play was a senile old man who had been implied to be a respected and benevolent ruler in his youth, and the novel serves to 'justify' the two daughters' wicked deeds by giving them abusive backgrounds.
100	* In ''Literature/{{Touch\|2017}},'' Caspar's father, Ray, began hitting him when he was nine, and recently started hitting his mother, Linda, too. However, this trope is {{Subverted}} when you find out that [[spoiler:they're trying to {{Invoke}} his TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening, and while Ray doesn't like doing it, Linda basically calls him a coward for not hurting them ''worse'']].
101	* PlayedWith in ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'' and its sequels (though see above under Film)--while both of Calvin's parents are known to be highly dysfunctional, only his mother is ever mentioned as being outright abusive to her children. On the other hand, her backstory in ''Literature/ASwiftlyTiltingPlanet'' gives her HiddenDepths while making her husband, as well as a physically and sexually abusive stepfather, the reason that she [[UsedToBeASweetKid became bitter and angry as an adult]].
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
105	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': The episode "The Spark in the Park" starts off with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it aversion. The body shows signs of abuse, and referring to a locket the girl was wearing, Cam tells Brennan "Take a good look at Mom and Dad. One or both could be the abuser." [[spoiler:It turns out the "abuse" was actually from long and gruelling gymnastic training. Her mother is dead and her father has no connection to her death.]] However, later in the episode, a friend of the victim comes in with her parents and has her arm in a sling. Booth immediately [[spoiler: and rightly]] assumes her father is responsible.
106	* Under the helm of Marti Noxon, ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' tended to drift in this direction. Whenever the show does an episode about domestic violence, the abuser is usually male.
107	* Subverted on an episode of ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'', where [[BigBad the Source]] uses this trope to nearly have Paige kill an innocent man whose son was being abused. The last time we see the man, he's warning ''his wife'' that he won't tolerate her hurting their son anymore.
108	* ''Series/TheDeadZone'': In the first season episode "Unreasonable Doubt", Johnny expresses sympathy for a fellow juror who he sees was attacked (probably raped) by a group of men by saying that it's something no man can really understand because they never experienced it (denying both male victims of this, plus female perpetrators).
109	* When ''Series/{{House}}'''s team discovers a bloody t-shirt belonging to their six-year-old patient, there's a momentary debate if they should call social services right away and present abuse, and they actually discuss the possibility of it being someone other than her father. Cuddy, however, demands that her father be arrested right away, and shoots down all suspicions with "It's ''always'' the dad!" [[spoiler:Turns out the little girl isn't even being abused at all. She's menstruating.]]
110	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'':
111	** They managed to play this one straight and subvert it at the same in the episode "Ridicule," which presumably was intended as an aesop about how men can be rape victims, too. The episode involves a male stripper who claims he was raped by three vindictive women (one of whom was played by Diane Neal, [[YouLookFamiliar who went on to play ADA Casey Novak in the same series]]). Most of the police are sympathetic but also somewhat dubious. Stabler, on the other hand, refuses to believe that it's even possible for a man to be raped by a woman. The woman who orchestrated the rape goes to jail for it at the end of the episode, and it appears that the audience is supposed to believe that it really was a rape. However, the episode unintentionally sends the message that the only way a woman can rape a man is if she decides to jump on him when he happens to have an erection. No one brings up the possibility that there's any way for a woman to violate a man other than initiating vaginal sex without his consent. And it really doesn't help that virtually everyone involved -- especially [[DesignatedHero alleged "good guy" Stabler]] -- is at the very least slow to accept this seemingly unheard-of notion that a woman can commit sexual assault (or the notion that men can be victims).
112	** Generally the only male abuse victims on the show are children, barely ever adults. Whenever a male victim does show up, they're not exactly treated sympathetically. Female abusers aren't uncommon on the show but usually they're not as harshly judged by the SVU detectives (save the occasional monster).
113	** One episode involved a mother who constantly traveled and was slightly unhinged who tried to see her son despite a restraining order from the boy's father. When the boy is kidnapped and eventually dies when the van he's in accidentally drives into a river, it is revealed that the mother had tried to get a mercenary-for-hire to kidnap her son so she could take him with her to another country. However, it is revealed that the boy's father, trying to frame the mother (despite knowing she had violated the restraining order), hired the kidnapper and was thus indirectly responsible for the boy's death. And the mother was given more sympathy even after she had almost fatally shot M.D. Warner (it should be noted that the instances of this trope played straight are often sadly TruthInTelevision in the real-world criminal justice system).
114	** The major problem with SVU is that male abuse victims generally don't get happy endings. Female abusers usually end up as {{Karma Houdini}}s or are acquitted, and when that doesn't happen the man either has his entire life ruined, is killed, goes to jail because of the [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale female abuser's manipulation]], or takes a back seat to another (female) victim.
115	** One notable aversion is a woman, who finds intelligent, rich men, roofies them, then uses an electric prod on their prostate to force an erection, then collects the sperm and impregnates herself. She then claims the guy raped her, and, being roofied, he can't remember either way. In the end, though, she is found guilty, and her child is given to the biological father, who is vindicated.
116	* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "The Screwfly Solution", this is the plot as a disease causes men's sexual urges to always become violent. Eventually, the human race goes extinct after every woman is murdered. The only man who doesn't succumb to this is gay and medically castrated.
117	* ''Series/TheMysteriesOfLaura'': In the episode "The Mystery of the Watery Grave", a woman crashes her car into the river, but the body is not found. By five minutes in, and with no actual evidence, Laura has decided that the husband is abusive and killed her. [[spoiler:When the woman turns up alive, Laura's theory is now that the woman staged her own death to get away from her abusive husband. She's right, of course, however]] at no time does the episode seriously consider any other theory, and the show goes out of its way to break its own standard of the last-minute-twist and reinforce that if you assume the man is abusive, then he is.
118	* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. The marine husband of one of the [[VictimOfTHeWeek victims of the week]] is accused of beating his wife, but it turns out that ''she'' was beating ''him''. [[spoiler:And she was a North Korean spy.]]
119	* ''Series/PrivatePractice'': [[spoiler:A kid was fat because he wanted one of his parents to stop abusing him. When the doctor finds out, he immediately goes berserk, looks up the father, and punches him in the face. It turns out the molester was the mother, not the father.]]
120	* ''Series/ShakespeareAndHathawayPrivateInvestigators'' has a few episodes dealing with DomesticAbuse. Played straight by [[spoiler:"The Promised End", where a wife leads her husband to believe he will be killed because of his abuse.]] Subverted in [[spoiler:"The Fairest Show Means Most Deceit", where the husband is being physically abused by his wife and burned with cigarettes because he's a Crossdresser.]]
121	* ''Series/SouthOfNowhere'': Spencer's father discovers that [[spoiler:Carmen pushed her while they were dating and seems horrified.]] Spencer assures him that it is not a big deal and in the end of the series [[spoiler: Carmen and Spencer are on relatively good terms, despite their relationship ending over abuse.]]
122	* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': When the cops discover a case of child abuse, they assume it's the kid's hulking father who's responsible; turns out it's the mother who's to blame.
123	* ''Series/StreetJustice'':
124	** The husband of Malloy's friend Lisa in "Self Defense" is a particularly manipulative example, controlling where his wife can go and when, blaming her for angering him enough to hit her, and generally isolating her to the point that she's a ShrinkingViolet who flinches at the slightest hint of physical contact.
125	** Then there's the father in "Kid Stuff" who, as his adopted son's teacher points out, has a mannerism that frightens the kids in the class, coupled with the fact that the adopted son in question has had bruises corresponding to physical abuse, and also the fact that the dad pushes both his son and the other kids hard when coaching them in basketball and isn't accepting of anything less than perfection. [[spoiler:The latter case is revealed to be a subversion, as while the dad's initially suspected of abusing the boy, he's in fact innocent -- it's his wife who's hurting the kid]].
126	* ''Series/{{Titus}}'' featured an episode that dealt with Christopher going to the funeral of an ex-girlfriend, being very secretive about his reasons why, deflecting the truth with the claim she was his true love. He eventually reveals he wanted to get some closure on their relationship because SHE was physically and emotionally abusive to him. The DoubleStandard is brought up that Christopher was embarrassed about being beaten up by a girl and his father didn't help much (trying to play off his injuries as a drunken accident to the neighbors). The only reason he stayed with her as long as he did was that she would swing from abuse [[AManIsAlwaysEager to sex in an instant]]. This is based on an actual relationship Chris Titus was in, outlined under Stand-Up Comedy.
127	* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': One episode involves Tosh gaining the ability to read minds. Many of the men (at some point it seems like all) she encounters reveal horribly abusive, nasty thoughts while the women reveal having been victimized by men. [[spoiler:She ends up stopping a man from killing his wife and kids.]]
128	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2019'' {{exaggerate\|dTrope}}s this in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone2019S1E7NotAllMen Episode 7: Not All Men]]". Men and ''only'' men will turn into violent, unhinged monsters when influenced by the fragments of a red meteorite. Of all male characters in the episode, only a single token gay man is able to fight it off. No women are shown being violent, and the PlotTwist at the end of the episode reveals that [[spoiler:the meteorite never had any supernatural properties at all -- [[TheUnfairSex it simply gave men an excuse to indulge in their abusive urges]]]].
129	* ''Series/WithoutATrace'': A school councilor assumes a student is being beaten by his father and is tight-lipped about it. To be fair, she was basing her assumption around her own experiences with parental abuse where her father [[spoiler: killed her mother when she called him out on it]], and eventually the boy opens up to correct her and state that it's his mother who is the abuser. Thankfully the episode is a subversion because both the councilor and the agents respond in the same negative way you'd expect to the mother for this.
130	* There was one episode in a Belgian series devoted to averting this trope. It was about parents with a daughter who demanded more and more money from her parents to support her drug habit. When the parents eventually refuse to give her more money, she accuses her father of abusing her and manages to take it all the way to court. Everyone believes her, as he's such a giant of a man. In court, however, he was brave enough to show the scars from all the times she had attacked him with a knife, proving not only that abusers can be female, but that parental abuse is also a thing that exists.
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Music]]
134	* The Canadian bluegrass group The Dead South have a song entitled "In Hell I'll Be in Good Company." It tells the story of a man who was horribly abused by his wife for years until finally she stabs him with a knife, intending to kill him. Instead, he manages to kill her in self-defense. Despite the fact that he was continually the victim, and despite the fact that her death was self-defense, the song ends with the man sitting on death row, awaiting execution for her "murder."
135	* The video for Music/JohnLegend's "Ordinary People" includes a mutually abusive couple. While at one point the man ''does'' slap the woman with the back of his hand, ''she'' is the one to instigate by being verbally abusive and pushing him. (Not that this is an excuse, mind.)
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
139	* Creator/ChristopherTitus based at least half of his routines on averting this. Virtually every relationship he was ever in had him being abused by the woman. He typically manages to [[BlackComedy play it for laughs while simultaneously getting the point across that it IS abuse, and it IS wrong]].
140	** For a specific example, the woman described under ''{{LiveActionTV/Titus}}'' was a [[FunSize 5'0"]] skinny woman, but would snap for no reason (blaming it on a "sugar imbalance"). One fight in particular stood out, as she lays into him a few times before he finally hits her back... [[TooKinkyToTorture inadvertently turning her on]]. When the police finally arrive, ''he's'' the one that is arrested for the night.
141	* Creator/KevinHart has also related some of his experiences in these types of relationships (including one with an older woman who was ''very'' possessive). This line sums it up best:
142	-->'''Hart''': If you're a guy, you can get arrested for grabbing at her shirt as you fall [from her hit].
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Theater]]
146	* In ''Theatre/TheVaginaMonologues'', a thirteen-year-old girl is assaulted by an adult man, and it’s presented as horrific. But when a woman does the same thing, it’s somehow portrayed as some sick comeback. The protagonist even says "if it was rape, it was a good rape." Author Eve Ensler even admitted that until the horrors of Abu Ghraib she didn’t think that women could possibly be abusers.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Video Games]]
150	* A major plot point in ''VideoGame/AmongTheSleep'' [[spoiler:is an aversion of this, as the kid's mother is an abusive alcoholic.]] However, to the [[OverdosedTrope displeasure of many players]], the DLC reveals that [[spoiler:it's also played straight because the father is abusive towards her.]]
151	* An aversion of this forms the heart of ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' -- Isaac's mother is ''completely unhinged''. Played for ''extreme'' BlackComedy.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Web Comics]]
155	* In the series, ''Webcomic/ForLoveNorMoney'', John Lees, Eamonn's uncle, is a man who sexually exploits his mother, Aoife, in exchange for payments. He is also an unforgiving landlord to his tenants, sending his heavies in a violent response to anyone who fails to pay their rent on time.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Web Original]]
159	* This is basically the premise of the WebVideo/BarneyBunch videos. Every male character from a work (and sometimes even real-life people as well), most prominently Drew Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', is depicted here as a sex-crazed maniac.
160	* Averted in the ''WebVideo/SexOffenderShuffle'', where one of the fictitious sex offenders on the Miami-Dade registry is a woman named Laura Hughes, who was convicted of groping her cousin, "proving girls can do it too."
161	* In one Literature/{{Whateley\|Universe}} story, during what's a private pool party with undertones of an informal recruitment drive, the notional leader of Poe cottage's "lesbian" faction drops the "without men, rape comes to a screeching halt" bombshell at one point. Though, at least two female sexual predators are seen, and another is accused of being one but later shown to be innocent (of that, at least; as Songbird herself said, no one who worked for Freya had clean hands).
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder:Western Animation]]
165	* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', with Ms. Barch, who believes all men are evil and is a militant "feminazi" yet is emotionally abusive and manipulative towards Mr. O'Neill.
166	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E14PeterAssment Peter-assment]]" sees Peter being sexually harassed by his female boss Angela, and Lois refuses to take it seriously, insisting that it's impossible for a woman to sexually harass a man because [[AManIsAlwaysEager no man would ever turn down sexual advances from a woman]]. The DoubleStandard worsens later in the episode when Angela admits her harassment was because she hasn't had sex in a long time.
167	* DCAU ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'''s Aresia. Men caused her pain in the past, so all men must be evil. Even if the male captain of the destroyed ship she was on as a child saved her life [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own]]. Although, she was not aware of this initially. Once she finds out, she merely switches her stance to "All men are evil [[YouAreACreditToYourRace except for him]]".
168	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
169	** {{Subverted\| trope}} where [[DumbBlonde Luanne]]'s mother [[TheAlcoholic Leanne]] abused her husband throughout their marriage and eventually went to jail for trying to stab him with a fork. She later begins dating, and eventually abusing, Bill, then comes onto Luanne's boyfriend and attacks him when he rejects her.
170	** Played semi-straight in a later episode when Hank is hit on by a female cop. He's portrayed as deeply disturbed by the event, having a ''very'' disgusted viewpoint toward sexual misconduct, and quietly hums "Star-Spangled Banner" to himself while she uses a frisking as an excuse to feel his ass. On the one hand, it's unusual for a show to take that stance on the event and show this as a bad thing, but the encounter is also PlayedForLaughs and could be seen as just another gag coming out of Hank's stick-in-the-mud personality.
171	* The original version of ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 The Powerpuff Girls]]'' introduces Dick Hardly, who is Professor Utonium's old collegemate. Once Dick himself saw the titular trio and their powers, he has the plan to make a business out of it, aptly named "Powerpuff Girls Xtreme," and it was successful for a while. Keep in mind that his overall business involves duplications of the real Powerpuff Girls themselves, and that he '''doesn't''' give ''any'' of them with much care like a parent would've, which is evidenced when he has little-to-no worries about their destructions (since he only treats every single one of them as cash cows).
172	** The application of this trope on him gets intensified when he tries to extract the Chemical X formula from ''the real'' Powerpuff Girls themselves, just so he could further increase the success of his business.
173	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "[[Recap/SouthParkS10E10MissTeacherBangsABoy Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy]]", Ike is in a sexual relationship with his kindergarten teacher. Also, Ike is '''three years old'''. So when Kyle heads down to the police station and tells them about this, they get all gung ho to bring this pedophile down... until Kyle mentions that she is a woman, and attractive. Kyle is disgusted when they start wanting to congratulate Ike. The police ''eventually'' arrest the teacher and interrogate her, and react equally inappropriately to the descriptions of her and her twin sister being sexually abused by an uncle. Not so much a double standard as the adults being complete idiots (and, thus, par for the course in this series).
174	** Also, Stan and his abusive older sister Shelley. People are only sympathetic to his injuries when they incorrectly believe they come from his parents, though at least it was implied they would have been horrified if it had been his mother doing the abusing. It was still wrong not to have sympathy for him, but there seemed to be a cut-off point for the age it was acceptable for females to abuse males.
175	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Alejandro Burromuerto serves as the main villain of ''World Tour''. Being a charismatic, yet deceptive contestant himself, some of his eliminated victims include '''a collective half''' of all of that season's official female contestants (when counting the recently added Blaineley).
176	[[/folder]]
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178	%% No real-life examples on rape tropes. Seriously. %%
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Context Main / AllAbusersAreMale