THANK YOU Joss Whedon

Now, bear with me...

Buffy is fighting Angelus in an old, abandoned, castle-esque mansion. Angelus is a vampire who was cursed with a soul and has become good, fighting alongside Buffy and her friends. However, he lost his soul and has only a small recollection of what it was like to be good. He has discovered Acathla, a giant statue that is in fact a portal to other worlds. Once Acathla is opened, all the demons and beings from other worlds will wreak havoc on our world. Buffy is trying to stall Angelus while her friends are elsewhere trying to cast a spell that will keep Acathla locked.

Angelus is able to momentarily get the better of Buffy and he disarms her of her sword. (Which now, thanks to Freud, I completely see as a phallic symbol. Literary theory has completed changed Buffy for me. Ugh.) Buffy is cornered against a stonewall, practically sitting, and at a complete loss. With his sword inches from Buffy’s face, he says:

“Now that’s everything, huh? No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what’s left?”

Buffy closes her eyes. Angelus lunges forward but Buffy catches the blade between her hands centimeters from her face, looks him square in the eye, and says:

“Me.”

She pushes the handle of the sword into his face, grabs her own off the cobblestone, and demonstrates her superior skills.

When reading the first chapter of Judith Halberstam’s “Female Masculinity,” all that I could think about was this scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although Halberstam’s examples are mostly queer and female, she says that they all demonstrate that “...female masculinity has been blatantly ignored both in the culture at large and within academic studies of masculinity” (935). Although Halberstam speaks mostly to queer females, I feel that it’s wrong to state, generally, that female masculinity is culturally ignored.

Enter Joss Whedon! The first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired one year prior to Halberstam’s book. I believe that, since then, Whedon has made a huge dent in educating our culture by means of female masculinity. Following Buffy, Whedon created three more shows, “Angel,” “Firefly,” and the currently airing show, “Dollhouse,” all of which have primary, strong female characters. Whedon, who minored in gender studies, even asked the women’s advocacy group, Equality Now, for an okay on the character of the heroine, played by Eliza Dushku in his latest television show.

As Halberstam says, “...many of these ‘heroic masculinities’ depend absolutely on the subordination of alternative masculinities” (935). I found her example of James Bond incredibly funny. To be honest, I’d never thought of M in the way that she does. I don’t feel that M is “noticeably butch”. Yes, she has a short haircut. Yes, she is his boss. But how does that qualify her as “butch”? She’s a strong woman who, may I add, is married. Anyways, I understand that masculinity depends on its comparison with alternate masculinities. This can be seen in Buffy.

Enter Xander. Xander is the adorable dorky kid and definitely not the definition of a “manly man.” For starters, his two best friends are girls: Buffy and Willow. Also, the first time we are introduced to Xander, he skateboards into a pole. That definitely doesn’t give off the ideal sense of masculinity. According to Halberstam, “In Goldeneye it is M who most convincingly performs masculinity, and she does so partly by exposing the shame of Bond’s own performance” (937). In Buffy, she time and time again saves Xander who, more often than not, is running from demons or vampires, rather than facing them.

Halberstam says that, “When you take [Bond’s] toys away, Bond has very little propping up his performance of masculinity” (937). It was this line that reminded me of the fight scene between Buffy and Angelus. Whedon shows that Buffy’s masculinity is just as strong when it’s just her without the sword, without the stakes, and without her backup.

Basically, I believe that Joss Whedon’s creation of strong female characters shows that female masculinity is being recognized more and more. Buffy was and still is an icon for many, as are all of Whedon’s other masculine females: Willow Rosenblum (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Zoe (Firefly), River (Firefly), Kaylee (Firefly), Cordelia Chase (Angel), and Echo (Eliza Dushku).

Thanks Joss!