So, this happened recently, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I (22M) got into a physical altercation with my sister (24F), and now things are really tense in the family.

For context, I’m a lot smaller than my sister — she’s a few inches taller and has at least 40 pounds on me. Despite that, she’s always been really quick-tempered and aggressive when we argue.

We got into a heated argument over something dumb (as it always is), but this time, she snapped and physically attacked me. She shoved me first, then started swinging.

I backed off and told her to stop multiple times, but she wouldn’t. At one point she pushed me against the wall and kept hitting, and I just reacted — I swung back. I didn’t even think, it was instinct. My punch connected and I ended up giving her a bloody nose and a bruised cheek.

She stopped after that and started crying, and now my parents are furious at me for “taking it too far,” even though she started it and I was trying to protect myself. I didn’t want to hurt her — I was just trying to make her stop. I’m honestly feeling really messed up about it, even though I know I didn’t start the fight.

Now everyone’s acting like I’m the bad guy. I’m being told that hitting a woman — especially my sister — is “never okay,” regardless of the situation. But I honestly don’t know what else I could’ve done in that moment.

So… AITA for hitting my sister back when she attacked me first?