I think what's weird about this saying is that by most metrics women are more likely to be the "protector" and men are more likely to see someone vulnerable as fresh meat (just look at what they say about drunk women and many say about teen girls).
If women were as strong as men, they would be far more likely to physically be protectors without there being any ulterior motive involved.

There's even data showing that it's actually largely a lie that "women and children first" panned out in stuff like shipwrecks, but you will still see men refer to it as if it almost always
And it often took a high-ranking man forcing other men to not leave children and women to die (also throw in how these groups are far more likely to die in natural disasters).

More than heroes, we have more men that go "haha, she still won't fuck you bro!" when a guy saves his friend's life from a murderer and that's the real state of things.