Xander: [info]gabrielleabelle ’s feminist filter has made me more aware of sexism in the show, and boy does Xander’s comment about using invisibility to guard the girls’ locker room annoy me more now than I'm sure it did five years ago. Worse, no one calls him on it. Ugh.
All males being perverts is a fairly standard trope to play for laughs. I assume no one calls him on it because it's expected and accepted as 'normal teenage boy' behavior, no different from the way he thinks about sex every few seconds.
This is rather troubling for a theoretically feminist shows, because when men internalize the belief that they can't control their own sexual urges, you get the 'logical' foundations of victim-blaming.
Also, after Angel rescues him, Willow, and Giles from the basement, Xander says, “Hi! What do you want?” I can’t believe his rudeness after Angel just saved his life. Double ugh. I definitely prefer later seasons Xander.
He's a huge jerk to Spike later on too. His behavior towards Angel and Spike seem motivated by a strong distrust of guys with dark/demonic pasts. This is of course, an ironic double standard, given his readiness to forgive Cordy for years of mistreatment, Faith for her accidental killing, Anya for her history as a vengeance demon, and Willow for trying to end the world.
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All males being perverts is a fairly standard trope to play for laughs. I assume no one calls him on it because it's expected and accepted as 'normal teenage boy' behavior, no different from the way he thinks about sex every few seconds.
This is rather troubling for a theoretically feminist shows, because when men internalize the belief that they can't control their own sexual urges, you get the 'logical' foundations of victim-blaming.
Also, after Angel rescues him, Willow, and Giles from the basement, Xander says, “Hi! What do you want?” I can’t believe his rudeness after Angel just saved his life. Double ugh. I definitely prefer later seasons Xander.
He's a huge jerk to Spike later on too. His behavior towards Angel and Spike seem motivated by a strong distrust of guys with dark/demonic pasts. This is of course, an ironic double standard, given his readiness to forgive Cordy for years of mistreatment, Faith for her accidental killing, Anya for her history as a vengeance demon, and Willow for trying to end the world.