I haven't ever actually watcedDark Angel, so I have nothing to say there, but this:
I've read a lot of fics in the Spuffy fandom where Buffy uses/abuses Spike, who just stoically takes it, because he's just so in love, and then Buffy comes to a realization about how horrible she's been and spends the rest of the fic groveling for Spike's forgiveness. I hate this. Because of this:
But Spike was not innocent during this season. He also abused Buffy, mentally and emotionally. He deliberately manipulated her when she was vulnerable, saying things like "You belong in the dark with me," so that he could have her to himself. He knew their relationship wouldn't be accepted by her friends so he did a lot to make her feel different from them, keeping her separated from the ones she loved, the ones who she needed to support her doing that time, so that he could keep having the screwed up relationship they had. In season 6 they hurt each other.
YES! Spike was not some woobie victim! He was preying on Buffy, too. They were both wrong.
But yes, there's a ton of hatred toward female characters in fandom; slash fandom is having a big blow-up about it right now. (Or...that might be over now. I don't really know.) I think part of it might be that "I'd treat him so much better than that bitch ______," but I think it's also the misogyny that's ingrained in our culture all our lives and that makes us treat women much more harshly in situations where we would forgive the character were he male.
The thing that Bufy and Veronica (and possibly Max, too; I would assume so) is that they're strong. They're not warm, they're not vulnerable or victims. And we're taught that that's not the way women are supposed to be. And I think a lot of people can't forgive women for that.
no subject
I've read a lot of fics in the Spuffy fandom where Buffy uses/abuses Spike, who just stoically takes it, because he's just so in love, and then Buffy comes to a realization about how horrible she's been and spends the rest of the fic groveling for Spike's forgiveness. I hate this. Because of this:
But Spike was not innocent during this season. He also abused Buffy, mentally and emotionally. He deliberately manipulated her when she was vulnerable, saying things like "You belong in the dark with me," so that he could have her to himself. He knew their relationship wouldn't be accepted by her friends so he did a lot to make her feel different from them, keeping her separated from the ones she loved, the ones who she needed to support her doing that time, so that he could keep having the screwed up relationship they had. In season 6 they hurt each other.
YES! Spike was not some woobie victim! He was preying on Buffy, too. They were both wrong.
But yes, there's a ton of hatred toward female characters in fandom; slash fandom is having a big blow-up about it right now. (Or...that might be over now. I don't really know.) I think part of it might be that "I'd treat him so much better than that bitch ______," but I think it's also the misogyny that's ingrained in our culture all our lives and that makes us treat women much more harshly in situations where we would forgive the character were he male.
The thing that Bufy and Veronica (and possibly Max, too; I would assume so) is that they're strong. They're not warm, they're not vulnerable or victims. And we're taught that that's not the way women are supposed to be. And I think a lot of people can't forgive women for that.