BUFFY VS. WOLLSTONECRAFT

Wollstonecraft vs. Buffy Summers

The following is an OUTLINE for the lecture given in class.
1. Damsel in Distress

Wollstonecraft is dependent on men for her salvation (rights)
Buffy does the saving, that is, she is never saved by men.

2. Use of Rationality versus Violence

Wollstonecraft makes an appeal to men’s rationality. She makes an logical, carefully outlined argument.

Buffy uses violence instead of rationality; she even describes herself as “rash and impulsive”.

3. Female beauty and woman as sex object

Wollstonecraft rejects Rousseau’s ideal of woman as an “object of desire” and that the whole tendency of female education should be to render women pleasing to men.

Buffy reverses the traditional gender stereotype that a woman must be either powerful/strong or beautiful/sexy. Buffy is both powerful and beautiful.

4. Vampirism as Rape and the Phallic Symbol

A phallic symbol is any object which represents the violent, penetrating power traditionally associated with the penis; examples include: gun, missile, knife, bullet, sword, etc.

Buffy uses a wooden stake (phallic symbol) to kill vampires, who represent vampirism as a kind rape and male oppressive power over women.

Common uses of profanity often betray our phallic association with power and violence.
“A man has balls or a big dick” if he is tough, and is a “pussy” if he is weak.
If a man is aggressive he is described as “cocky”, and you “cock” a gun to fire it.
The phrase “to fuck” suggests violent penetration, as well as “screwed”

5. Victim versus Judge

Wollstonecraft is a victim of her society and culture.

Buffy is judge, jury and executioner. She cannot look to anyone else for assistance in deciding what is ethical; that is the blessing and burden of being a hero.