Slapping someone is unbearably stupid. If you’re going to hit someone, you’d best knock him out and there’d better be a really good reason and it had better involve self-defense. Slapping another man relies on the fact that he is either significantly weaker than you or nicer than you. I’m reminded of the Evil Alcalde from “Zorro The Gay Blade.” “I have always relied on other people being nicer than me, and I have NEVER been disappointed.”
I don’t think so. I think there’s a fantastic insult in a slap. You slap bugs, maybe children, possibly hysterical women. When you slap a man you’re saying “I don’t see you as a man, I will not treat you as one”.