I've always felt a bit irked when there are scenes in a Soap where a female character has punched or slapped a male character simply because he did/said something that upset/annoyed her and it's portrayed as being something 'normal' and acceptable for a woman to do. It irritates me because on the flip side you'd never see a male character casually punching or slapping a female character and it just being overlooked or accepted as being part of normal everyday behaviour.
I guess in the entertainment sector physical violence is considered to be ok as long as it's the woman doing it towards the man and not the other way around..... 
Anyway, I was watching last night's Casualty earlier today and there were some scenes where I thought to myself "If they reversed the sexes of these characters this would be horrific!"
The general gist is a female top Neurosurgeon who has a male colleague who is junior to her.
In front of a patient and another doctor she very rudely says in reference to her colleague who is standing beside her, "He's not allowed to talk because he's a moron!"
She then later barks at her colleague when he goes to pick up her suitcase. She shouts at him to put it down (in front of people) and says something along the lines of him not even being able to lift an eyelid (never mind her case) in a purposefully disparaging tone. Throughout their scenes together she basically just shouts at him in front of people, belittles him and orders him around as if she thinks she owns him with a big grin on her face.
The issue though is the way their relationship is portrayed because it's been done as if the writers/directors want us to think it's some kind of "Girl Power" and we should all be amused by it because she's such a high flying career woman. It's acted out as if because she's successful she can treat him like dirt if she wishes and we should all laugh along at how wonderful she is....
When the Surgeon is in the operating room her male patient is lying on the bed ready for his procedure and she lifts up the bottom of his theatre gown (he's awake) and makes some sexual comment towards his genitals and all the characters laugh about it.
Can you imagine it if the roles were reversed and a male surgeon told his female colleague, in front of patients and doctors that she wasn't allowed to speak because she was a moron?
Would a male surgeon talking nastily to his female juniors like they're something he just trod in also be scripted as humorous?
And what if a male surgeon went into theatre and started lifting up female patients gowns and making references to their genitals??
Would that be laughed off in the same way it was in Casualty? I doubt it.
The writers may have wanted the storyline to be humorous but I didn't get that feeling from it.
Why is it shown to be funny or acceptable when a female character does something whereas if a male character did the same it would be considered abusive or totally unacceptable?
I know it's only TV and it's not real etc but I see this kind of attitude portrayed all the time across Soaps and it really irritates me.
Surely a certain behaviour or action is acceptable or it isn't regardless of what sex is doing it?