Yes, I am late to the Joss party

I'd been seeing references to Joss Whedon and misogyny and going "eh?" for some time now. amireal and Google got me caught up:

A Rapist's View of the World: Joss Whedon and Firefly

The "radfem" LJ post that seems to have started it all, and an excellent illustration of why I am a closet feminist, and a cane-whacking geezer closet feminist, at that. You little girls have no idea what it's like to have a man promoted over you and have it be legal for the promoter to say "well, he's got a family to support" and have no legal recourse. (Okay, neither do I, but I heard about it from my mom.)

I hope I'm being punked (Ace of Spades)


A blogger's reaction to _allecto_'s piece, the link to which I found from:

Joss Whedon Misogynist? (Dr. Melissa Clouthier)

This person with whom I totally agree when she asks "Were you watching the same show I was watching?"

I've always viewed the disasters that occur to women (interpreted in the first essay as Joss taking "glee" in their plight) as Joss saying "See? This is what the world dishes out to women" rather than "w00t! This what I'd like to do to women!" It does make me wonder if _allecto_'s essay would even be possible if Joss weren't a white male.

Oh, wait. I'm a veteran of enough "omg SLASH IS MISOGYNIST!" flamewars to know the answer to that. If a woman raked in the dough producing a show about ass-kicking vampire- or Reaver-slayers, she'd be a pawn of patriarchy.

( My brand of feminism? )