He called me a son of a b**ch a few times and I responded each time with something like "That's such a cheesy name." Mind you I love my mom too. The thing is, I took a sociology class where the teacher talked about how even putting women down as a joke (eg you hit like a girl) can be going too far. She also mentioned that if I don't say anything, I'm encouraging it. I told the friend a couple weeks ago how I prefer not to be called a son of a b**ch even as a joke and he said ok. Then again, if he really was trying to bully me, he would have said that my mom is a b**ch. What do I do should this happen again? How would these solutions sound:
1)He was only kidding, so is it ok that I call him something vulgar back?
2)Mention how he said he wouldn't say that again?
Also, am i sounding cowardly at all? It's only joking and I would prefer not to make something big out of this.