Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Sex and the Slayer

A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan

Jowett, Lorna

“A highly nuanced, jargon-free discussion of the nature, role and place of gender in Buffy. Anyone who thinks Buffy is “post-feminist,” “feminist,” or just a silly television show needs to read this book.” - James B. South, editor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy

Book Cover An introduction to gender studies through one of TV’s most popular shows.

During its seven-year run, Buffy the Vampire Slayer attracted a wide range of viewers and almost unprecedented academic interest. Sex and the Slayer explores one of the most talked-about topics in relation to this pioneering TV series-gender. As fantasy, Buffy potentially opens up a space for alternative representations of gender. But how alternative can popular television be? Taking a feminist cultural studies approach, Jowett explores the ways in which the series represents femininity, masculinity, and gendered relations, including sexuality and sexual orientation. Written for undergraduates, Sex and the Slayer provides an introduction to the most important theoretical and historical underpinnings of contemporary gender criticism as it examines a range of thought-provoking issues: role reversal, the tension between feminism and femininity, the “crisis” of masculinity, gender hybridity, the appeal of bad girls, romance, and changing family structures. Through this introductory analysis, Jowett shows that Buffy presents a contradictory mixture of “subversive” and “conservative” images of gender roles and as such is a key example of the complexity of gender representation in contemporary television.

“The book is not only an excellent introduction to gender studies but also contains an insightful, original, and erudite chapter about the men of Buffy. It is a must-have for all serious Buffy fans and scholars. An impressive achievement.”-Justine Larbalestier, author of The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements • Introduction • Girl Power • Good Girls • Bad Girls • Tough Guys • New Men • Dead Boys • Parental Issues • Conclusion • Notes • Bibliography • Index

LORNA JOWETT is a Senior Lecturer in American Studies at University College Northampton in the U.K. and an avid Buffy fan.