AITA for throwing an egg back in the face of a woman who threw eggs at me first?

A Reddit user shared a chaotic encounter where a group of strangers threw eggs at him unprovoked. In a moment of anger and instinct, he threw one back, hitting one of the women in the face. Now, he’s reflecting on whether his reaction crossed the line. Read the full story below and decide for yourself.

‘ AITA for throwing an egg back in the face of a woman who threw eggs at me first?’

I (M22) was walking home alone last night. Suddenly a group of young women (around my age) appeared and started to throw eggs at me. Didnt know them, never saw them before and i have no idea why they did it.
Luckily for me, two of them wasnt even close, i managed to move my body before the third egg hit me, and the fourth made a really bad throw.

I somehow caught the fourth egg, and out of instinct, confusion, and most of all anger, i threw the egg as hard as i could back at her. Clean shot right in the face. I used to play baseball, so my throw is pretty. hard.

As soon as i hit her, they started to yell at me that i was a woman-ab*ser and all sort of similar terrible s**t. I ran as fast as i could and got home. As soon as i calmed down, i felt really bad.

…I did act vi*lent towards a woman. I wouldnt even call it selfdefence since they clearly didnt have any eggs left, so it was mostly just revenge i guess. It all happened really fast and i had no time to think. I just did it. A part of me feels that she 100% deserved it, but a part of me feels sick…

Should I have acted diffirent since i am a man, and should NEVER act vi*lent towards a woman (or anybody in generel). What do you think?

Check out how the community responded:

Turmeric_Ping −  Anyone throwing eggs at strangers should expect at least an egg thrown back. If their victim doesn’t manage to catch an egg, then whatever comes to hand. Being women does not exempt them from the consequences of their behaviour.

Edit to add: There have been a couple of comments below that come straight out of the Andrew Tate school of misogyny, and I’d like to clearly disassociate myself from them. The behaviour of these women has to do with them being obnoxious people, and nothing to do with them being women. I don’t accept that women routinely behave poorly and then play the gender card to avoid consequences.

Ornery-Platypus-1 −  NTA. Next time you catch an egg, look the egg tosser in the eye with a steely glare, and tell her “Omelet you go this time, but don’t let it happen again.”

Pedrilhotroll −  NTA. Perfect example of goes around comes around. You’re not a women abuser, I’d say you’re an egg abuser but I’m not a vegan so I can swallow that pill…

Smooth_Fishing7109 −  As a woman, in my opinion they tried to use the woman card to make you feel bad for doing to them what they did to you. You didn’t know them, they didn’t know you. If someone starts something they can’t get mad that the person they forced into the interaction ends up finishing it.

Though you should never act violent towards anyone, and even if you threw the egg in anger, they deserved it. Don’t dish out what you can’t take if they didn’t want egg on their face they shouldn’t have thrown em.
You feel bad which shows you care about people/strangers. Don’t beat yourself up too much.

CelestHaze −  Instincts kick in fast. You reacted naturally to a weird situation. Don’t beat yourself up.

ncjr591 −  It was self defense. They played a stupid game and had a terrible result. You are not a woman abuser, you’re a self defense master.

Kittytigris −  NTA. But I’d call the cops and report them assaulting passerby. They could hit the wrong person and the results could have been much worse than just getting hit with an egg back.

whatever928747 −  Seems like an appropriate response. If this is real, they’re gonna end up getting hurt badly by someone.

whatev6187 −  NTA – Being a woman does not provide immunity from self-defense. They must have considered this a nice gesture if they were flinging eggs at a stranger. If anyone asks you thought it was a weird game, but wanted to be neighborly. After all if it wasn’t a game, they commited a crime by physically assaulting a stranger.

scxiao −  This has to be a fake story but in case it’s not, NTA. Acted completely in self defense, who knows what else they were prepared to throw at you.