u/Embarrassed-Bad-3118

Guys boast about being all tough and ready to fight etc, while also eagerly "I'd never put my hands on a woman bro that's messed up!"

After hearing that said so many times, I eventually realized it's not for the sake of keeping a woman safe from being brutalized by someone twice her size...it's for protecting a man's masculinity. Only a pathetic, weak man would find it worthy to punch down to women. In this case, the word "woman" is practically synonymous with "weak."

Men want to preserve their pride as the stronger sex and therefore only find it worthy to exert their strength towards equals.

The wild twist being: men still hit women all the time. They don't actually follow this supposed rule-- it's more a line they use as a performance of their masculinity and awareness of "guy code."

Has anyone else noticed this trend, especially on Reddit?

Usually it happens in posts asking for advice. A man will chime in with some decent or uplifting insight and, if it references at all that he happens to be a dad, there will be LOADS of comments following it praising his fatherhood abilities and people wishing they had a dad like him, etc. Mind you, the original comment is never anything really remarkable to begin with. But the praise itself is always so grand too...so much so, that it's almost laughable. "The world needs more men like you!" and "I know your daughters just absolutely adore you. Cheers man!"

I truly never see this kind of thing when mothers comment or offer advice.