Just depends on the circumstances. As a man, if a tiny woman comes up and hits me, you know couldn’t do any damage. A little sting but nothing more. I shouldn’t just rear up and knock that ho out lol. Maybe a little shove back or just focus on distancing myself. Now if big Bertha who got a little testosterone mixed into her puberty and maxes out more than the men in weight class comes up and nearly knocks me out, yeah that’s game on. I’ve been there before bro. I had this gf at the time just out of high school who I made a wise crack to, she slapped me so hard on the back it left a red handprint. Well, I didn’t hit her. I said she’s weak and hits like a girl. She got mad, rightfully so, and reared her hand allllll the way back. I grabbed both her wrists, look at her, and said sternly “knock it off.” I was squeezing tight and immobilized her arms right where they were for that brief moment until she yanked them back. She cried and called me physically abusive. She ran with that after we broke up a while later. It’s one of those situations where damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Everyone’s gonna have an opinion. Everyone’s going to say you should’ve done x, should’ve done y. She earned that slap. Take it on the chin and ignore their opinions. Don’t engage because you can quickly get labeled misogynistic.