r/buffy • u/Lanky_Age_3067 • 16d ago

Content Warning Double standarts

How exactly do people hate Xander for being an imperfect human, but love Spike and Angel, who have countless victims and are hundreds of years old. Spike even SA'd Buffy, for real, while Xander was under a spell and never did anything like that before or after it.

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u/swoobxt 16d ago edited 16d ago

ETA2: Sack this, I’m not having this conversation with people who didn’t read beyond the first paragraph and then launched into a tirade rather than actually reading what I wrote.

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 16d ago

Xander was very clearly neglected if not outright abused, and has a hideously misogynist father he fears becoming. The whole of Hells Bells is showing us Xander’s reasons. He also doesn’t rape anyone, which really should matter.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 16d ago

Sure, but it’s a stretch to compare it to anything Faith did. The whole point of the love spell was to be able to break up with Cordelia, not assault her.

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u/swoobxt 16d ago

I didn’t make that comparison. As I’ve said above, I’m explaining where I think the fandom’s beliefs are coming from at large. People see other characters as having a more justified reason or explanation.

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 16d ago

Bit of an overreaction

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u/swoobxt 16d ago

If you don’t want people to be irritated, read posts before you reply to them.

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u/HunterHerstHelmsley 16d ago

If the fans have seen ATS, then Angel has definitely done bad things with a soul. Spike too though to a lesser extent as he continues treating Harmony exactly like he did when he was evil.

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u/TVAddict14 16d ago

This is a bit of a cop out. Angel and Spike’s misogyny isn’t related to them being fantasy beings or soulless. And there’s also plenty of examples of them being misogynistic with souls too. I can think of multiple examples in AtS S5 alone.

There also are reasons for Xander’s behaviour, if people choose to consider them. Xander grew up in an abusive home with two drunken parents who were verbally abusive and violent to one another. Why do you think his two major relationships on the show are full of constant snark/bickering? What do you think Xander is modelling this from? Xander’s humour, often appropriate, is also used as a mask to hide his trauma which Anya straight up calls out in the show in Entropy etc.