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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32851
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

First, I have to ask you the most important question:

If this is such a dilemma for you, why did you write this villain as a woman? You are literally in control of every aspect, why a woman if you want the male protagonist to take her down in a battle of fisticuffs?

That aside. Frankly, if she didn't want to have people punching her in the face, she shouldn't have gone the route of all-encompassing evil. I, me personally, have no issue with men hitting women, or the other way around (within the context of a fantasy setting where good versus evil is a thing). Because:

If he doesn't stop her, people will die.

But. Two work-arounds, if you're not in the mood to have to defend this. Either, make your protagonist a woman. Who's going to get upset with a woman slapping another woman around? The other, make your villain a man. Or do both, and have it be about women taking on the patriarchy (that's a joke, in case you're wondering).

Look. As a woman, I really don't care about that. In my current work in progress, in the opening chapter, I have my MC getting attacked by a group of men, and have her killing half of them. It isn't about violence against women--otherwise a dozen shows I know would be getting WAY more backlash (RWBY, Powerpuff Girls, Avengers, the list goes on). This is about the reason behind it.

So, if you get this published, and someone asks you why your very male protagonist had to slap a clearly less physically capable woman around, you need to be able to answer that: Why does the villain have to be a woman, and why does the protagonist have to be a man?

Original score: 10