Ffff, oh god, I hate this. You know how you know that 'the boys' will stand up for you? When you can call them on their nonsense and they stop doing it.

I used to work with a bunch of real macho lad's lads (it was a car-and-bike shop, so you know) and we used to shout and swear at each other on a regular basis. They quickly learnt exactly what they could not say around me, especially as regards their girlfriends. And then I was out with them all once when my drink got spiked.

One of them took me back to his and kept an eye on me all night, then paid for my taxi home in the morning; the others, when they realised I *wasn't* just drunk, were pissed as hell about it and, had they caught the dipshit responsible, would have inflicted some serious violence on that person.