The Feminist Filter: Halloween

[gabrielleabelle]

Alright! Let's do Halloween! This one is particularly rich in the feminist text, so make yourself some tea. :)

Mission Statement:This series is intended to outline the feminist text of each episode so as to provoke and encourage open discussion. It's not so much about making value judgments about events and/or characters but about analyzing the

Comments

[samsom]

"It's come as you aren't night. The perfect chance for a girl to get sexy and wild with no repercussions."

This reminds me of the chagrin I feel every year when picking out a costume - first for myself, now for my daughter - and I go to a store and see rows and rows of 'costumes' for women that sexualize the hell out of different professions. Cop, fire(wo)man, zombies. Short, short skirts, cleavage and fishnet stockings. It's almost like Halloween has become an opportunity to, God help me for phrasing it this way, slutting up instead of becoming someone else for a night. /rant

So in this way, I think Buffy is sort of enforcing some horrible gender roles, probably without realizing it.

"She's tricky. Baby likes to play."

It's very sexual, the way he says this, but I like that he's watching her fight (being a slayer) when he's saying it. It shows that Spike is drawn to every part of her, including, and maybe especially, the masculine (slayer) part. Which shows the traditional inverse of genders that permutate their later relationship.

[gabrielleabelle]

Word on the Halloween costumes. Hell, I've bought sexy Halloween costumes before. It's the thing to do. Just for curiosity, I went to Costume Express - the first website to pop up when I google 'Halloween costumes'. The front page has an Optimus Prime costume. The male costume is bulky and all, like you'd expect a Tranformers outfit to be. The female costume? Skin-tight and sexy. *rollseyes*

I'm gonna be a ninja this year. Probably gonna have to buy my costume from the men's section because female ninjas inevitably look like this. *sighs*

[doublemeat]

It's very sexual, the way he says this, but I like that he's watching her fight (being a slayer) when he's saying it. It shows that Spike is drawn to every part of her, including, and maybe especially, the masculine (slayer) part. Which shows the traditional inverse of genders that permutate their later relationship.

I love that scene. It's sort of the opposite of the only Spike/Buffy scene I absolutely hate, which is the one in Something Blue when he says "I don't know if I'll be able to protect you!" Ugh. Things Spike Would Never Ever Say To Buffy, Exhibit A.

I'm not sure that their gender roles are inverted, exactly. I think it's more that Spike never underestimates or condescends to Buffy because she's a woman. Since other characters often do, and since we're culturally primed to expect them to, it seems like an inversion.

[boot_the_grime]

It's very sexual, the way he says this, but I like that he's watching her fight (being a slayer) when he's saying it. It shows that Spike is drawn to every part of her, including, and maybe especially, the masculine (slayer) part. Which shows the traditional inverse of genders that permutate their later relationship.

Like Doublemeat, I don't think that it's an inversion. Spike is drawn to Buffy as a fighter/Slayer, but for it to be an inversion, Spike would have to be weak, completely damselish, unable to match Buffy in fight, and generally not a fighter, which is obviously not true at all. He isn't drawn to her as a fighter because he's helpless and in need of a protector, he's drawn to her because he himself loves the fight, it's at the core of his being.

[frelling_tralk]

THIS. I was trying to find a costume to wear to my sisters party recently, and it was ALL really short skirts/bursting out the top, I couldn't find any that I would feel comfortable wearing. And of course it's fine and understandable that a lot of women might want to play with sexy costumes at a party, but I was quite disillusioned that there wasn't any choice (literally none) if you don't happen to feel like wearing something very revealing

[eowyn_315]

This reminds me of the chagrin I feel every year when picking out a costume - first for myself, now for my daughter - and I go to a store and see rows and rows of 'costumes' for women that sexualize the hell out of different professions.

UGH. Word. What if I don't WANT to be a "Sexy [Fill in the Blank]"??