In my boarding school in 60’s one girl has punched me hard in my neck and i just defended myself and pushed her lightly, we were both taken to the headmistress “Mrs Laila” who blamed me and strictly warned me never ever fight with a girl or I’ll make you wish you were never born,boy. Then she opened the cupboard and got a cane and gave me 6 hard thrashings on my hands
In earlier times men and women, and boys and girls, had different and clearly defined roles in society determined in the main by the biology of reproduction but often with distinctions or restrictions added on. In those days it was (or at least it seemed) entirely reasonable for boys to be punished differently from girls. Nowadays, it is recognised that many of the distinctions between male and female were or are cultural in nature and not inate. And there is confusion between equality of opportunity and sameness.