On Joss and Feminism
I've been thinking a lot lately. Ever since I saw those two episodes of AtS where Fred dies, the wheels in my head have been turning and I've been coming to some conclusions about stuff. In particular, I've been rethinking my stance on Joss' feminism and on the feminist text of Buffy.
I've always been quite a defender of Joss in that regard. I argued that he isn't perfect and I would happily point out mistakes that he'd made, but I believed he had the best of intentions. Now, in light of the horrible misogyny that is the fridging of Fred, I'm having to change a few of my opinions about BtVS.
There are several aspects that have often bothered me about the show, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I believed in Joss' good intentions. Since I'm quickly losing that belief, I feel the need to explicate those aspects in this post.
Power?
Apparently in the Buffyverse, you don't get to be a strong woman unless you have some demonic or supernatural power. Women have no power of their own. Even the Slayer's strength is rooted in something demonic.
Just with this, Joss is making a metaphor of a powerful woman being unnatural and...well...demonic. He makes a pretty darn clear rape analogy in Get It Done with the demonic power being forced upon the first Slayer. And then what does he do? Force this power upon a bunch of other girls by the end of the series. Apparently, the way to get back power after having been raped is for a woman to rape other women.
This isn't an empowering sentiment. This is Joss encouraging women to turn against each other in order to ascend in power. It's a vile message.
Anya
Anya is the characterization of the man-hating feminist in the show. She is an advocate for scorned women and carries out justice against men who had wronged them. From the start, Joss demonizes feminists by making her a literal demon. When she turns into a human, she's a plain "feminazi" stereotype. She's shrill, annoying, and unliked by just about everybody. Xander doesn't fall in love with her because she's strong. He falls in love with her because she clings to him and gives him no other options.
Of course, the feminist fails in her attempt at being human and getting a man. After all, no feminist could possibly snag a guy, right Joss? And in the final episode Joss actually kills her. So much for his big feminist message.
Spike
The more I think on Spike's character, the more convinced I am that he's a sexist. He coddles Drusilla, refusing to give her any independence. Then when she makes the choice to see someone else, Spike throws a hissy fit and makes an under-handed plan to snatch her back against her wishes. Hell, in Lover's Walk, he makes a reference to torturing Dru into loving him again.
The guy obviously has no respect for Dru and sees her as some sort of trophy or object. He's downright abusive to Harmony.
Oh, right. But it's funny because she's annoying. You're allowed to slap around annoying women. Especially as Harmony is the representation of a female victimized by a misogynist society that brainwashes women into thinking they need a man to be complete. The very society she lives in compels her to stay with Spike, even though he treats her horribly.
And then Buffy.
I've really become disturbed by this the more I think about it.
He makes advances toward her that she clearly doesn't like. But her wishes don't matter. He feels he's entitled to get Buffy and persistently chases after her, even after her rejection. He even chains her up in an attempt to woo her and tries to force her to confess to some feelings for him.
He sees women as dolls to be manipulated to serve him. He doesn't see them as individual people in their own right. If a woman doesn't love him back, he throws a hissy fit. That's the essence of the Nice Guy syndrome where he feels entitled to having a woman simply because he's a man. It's blatantly sexist.
And what does Joss try to do? He tries to redeem him. You can't redeem a misogynist. It's disgusting to think you could.
Buffy's boyfriends
Joss tries to give us big romances. But in fact, these romances only serve to reinforce the sexism pervading the show.
Buffy/Angel is a horribly patriarchal relationship. Angel is overbearing, sneaking into her room and making decisions for her. It's taking the supposed strong female hero and reducing her to a child to be rescued and guided by the man in her life.
Buffy/Riley shows how a strong woman can't have a romance with a guy because he'll always feel insecure. In Into the Woods Xander places the blame for this squarely on Buffy's shoulders because she didn't appreciate Riley enough. Apparently, Joss is under the impression that Buffy should act weaker than she is to make Riley feel more secure. The end of the episode has Buffy running after the guy who had cheated on her with vamp whores in a tearful sprint.
Buffy/Spike is clearly abusive. Spike uses his sexual power over Buffy to corrupt her and bring her into the darkness. Not only that, but the relationship reiterates the sexist romantic comedy trope that if a girl's not interested, keep trying until she eventually caves in. Cause girls aren't allowed to say "no" to a guy.
Nowhere are we shown an empowering feminist romance. Instead, Buffy is belittled, weakened, or abused in every one of her relationships.
Buffy's Skank-wear
Buffy's supposed to be a feminist hero, right? Seems to me that she's more of Joss' fantasy. Is this what a feminist hero looks like?
I think not. This is what a feminist hero looks like, folks:
Buffy is Joss' wet dream: a scantily-clad teenage girl wielding a phallic object.
This doesn't extend just to Buffy. Joss has quite a fondness for hot, petite girls. In fact, he almost didn't cast Amber Benson as Tara because he wanted a smaller girl playing her.
Hell, we see this influence in Dollhouse, Joss' latest work, which plays out like his masturbatory fantasy. A huge complex full of blank, hot women ready to be programmed to fulfill his every whim.
Joss
It's disturbing the name the man has set up for himself on the basis of these flawed credentials. He shows himself to be carrying out his misogynist fantasies in the name of feminism, which is downright offensive.
I used to defend the feminism of the show, but I'm afraid I can't do so anymore. Not in good conscience.
I've also been bothered lately by the smut prevalent in fandom. The institutional patriarchy we live in makes it such that there is a significant power imbalance in any male/female relationship. With that large a power difference, the woman cannot consent to anything at all. In essence, all heterosexual sex is rape because the man has more power, by default.
As such, I'll no longer be reading any NC-17 fics, and I will be taking down Influence of Demons within 24 hours.
I feel so much better now that I've thought all this out and come to these conclusions. I feel I no longer have to defend this man, which goes against my own principles.
As always, discussion is welcome.
Follow-up to this entry
I've always been quite a defender of Joss in that regard. I argued that he isn't perfect and I would happily point out mistakes that he'd made, but I believed he had the best of intentions. Now, in light of the horrible misogyny that is the fridging of Fred, I'm having to change a few of my opinions about BtVS.
There are several aspects that have often bothered me about the show, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I believed in Joss' good intentions. Since I'm quickly losing that belief, I feel the need to explicate those aspects in this post.
Power?
Apparently in the Buffyverse, you don't get to be a strong woman unless you have some demonic or supernatural power. Women have no power of their own. Even the Slayer's strength is rooted in something demonic.
Just with this, Joss is making a metaphor of a powerful woman being unnatural and...well...demonic. He makes a pretty darn clear rape analogy in Get It Done with the demonic power being forced upon the first Slayer. And then what does he do? Force this power upon a bunch of other girls by the end of the series. Apparently, the way to get back power after having been raped is for a woman to rape other women.
This isn't an empowering sentiment. This is Joss encouraging women to turn against each other in order to ascend in power. It's a vile message.
Anya
Anya is the characterization of the man-hating feminist in the show. She is an advocate for scorned women and carries out justice against men who had wronged them. From the start, Joss demonizes feminists by making her a literal demon. When she turns into a human, she's a plain "feminazi" stereotype. She's shrill, annoying, and unliked by just about everybody. Xander doesn't fall in love with her because she's strong. He falls in love with her because she clings to him and gives him no other options.
Of course, the feminist fails in her attempt at being human and getting a man. After all, no feminist could possibly snag a guy, right Joss? And in the final episode Joss actually kills her. So much for his big feminist message.
Spike
The more I think on Spike's character, the more convinced I am that he's a sexist. He coddles Drusilla, refusing to give her any independence. Then when she makes the choice to see someone else, Spike throws a hissy fit and makes an under-handed plan to snatch her back against her wishes. Hell, in Lover's Walk, he makes a reference to torturing Dru into loving him again.
The guy obviously has no respect for Dru and sees her as some sort of trophy or object. He's downright abusive to Harmony.
Oh, right. But it's funny because she's annoying. You're allowed to slap around annoying women. Especially as Harmony is the representation of a female victimized by a misogynist society that brainwashes women into thinking they need a man to be complete. The very society she lives in compels her to stay with Spike, even though he treats her horribly.
And then Buffy.
I've really become disturbed by this the more I think about it.
He makes advances toward her that she clearly doesn't like. But her wishes don't matter. He feels he's entitled to get Buffy and persistently chases after her, even after her rejection. He even chains her up in an attempt to woo her and tries to force her to confess to some feelings for him.
He sees women as dolls to be manipulated to serve him. He doesn't see them as individual people in their own right. If a woman doesn't love him back, he throws a hissy fit. That's the essence of the Nice Guy syndrome where he feels entitled to having a woman simply because he's a man. It's blatantly sexist.
And what does Joss try to do? He tries to redeem him. You can't redeem a misogynist. It's disgusting to think you could.
Buffy's boyfriends
Joss tries to give us big romances. But in fact, these romances only serve to reinforce the sexism pervading the show.
Buffy/Angel is a horribly patriarchal relationship. Angel is overbearing, sneaking into her room and making decisions for her. It's taking the supposed strong female hero and reducing her to a child to be rescued and guided by the man in her life.
Buffy/Riley shows how a strong woman can't have a romance with a guy because he'll always feel insecure. In Into the Woods Xander places the blame for this squarely on Buffy's shoulders because she didn't appreciate Riley enough. Apparently, Joss is under the impression that Buffy should act weaker than she is to make Riley feel more secure. The end of the episode has Buffy running after the guy who had cheated on her with vamp whores in a tearful sprint.
Buffy/Spike is clearly abusive. Spike uses his sexual power over Buffy to corrupt her and bring her into the darkness. Not only that, but the relationship reiterates the sexist romantic comedy trope that if a girl's not interested, keep trying until she eventually caves in. Cause girls aren't allowed to say "no" to a guy.
Nowhere are we shown an empowering feminist romance. Instead, Buffy is belittled, weakened, or abused in every one of her relationships.
Buffy's Skank-wear
Buffy's supposed to be a feminist hero, right? Seems to me that she's more of Joss' fantasy. Is this what a feminist hero looks like?
I think not. This is what a feminist hero looks like, folks:
Buffy is Joss' wet dream: a scantily-clad teenage girl wielding a phallic object.
This doesn't extend just to Buffy. Joss has quite a fondness for hot, petite girls. In fact, he almost didn't cast Amber Benson as Tara because he wanted a smaller girl playing her.
Hell, we see this influence in Dollhouse, Joss' latest work, which plays out like his masturbatory fantasy. A huge complex full of blank, hot women ready to be programmed to fulfill his every whim.
Joss
It's disturbing the name the man has set up for himself on the basis of these flawed credentials. He shows himself to be carrying out his misogynist fantasies in the name of feminism, which is downright offensive.
I used to defend the feminism of the show, but I'm afraid I can't do so anymore. Not in good conscience.
I've also been bothered lately by the smut prevalent in fandom. The institutional patriarchy we live in makes it such that there is a significant power imbalance in any male/female relationship. With that large a power difference, the woman cannot consent to anything at all. In essence, all heterosexual sex is rape because the man has more power, by default.
As such, I'll no longer be reading any NC-17 fics, and I will be taking down Influence of Demons within 24 hours.
I feel so much better now that I've thought all this out and come to these conclusions. I feel I no longer have to defend this man, which goes against my own principles.
As always, discussion is welcome.
Follow-up to this entry