I really didn't like that. I always thought the slayers were just a mystical occurance to balance the scales, and I liked that explination far better. To find out that they owed all their power to men bothered me.
It seemed strange in what's usually a show with a strong femenist message.

Let me explain a bit, I'm not saying the show needs to dedicate itself to femenism at the expence of plot and I know part of the point of this revelation was so Buffy and Willow could change the rules and empower more women, but without those first men they wouldn't have been able to.

If Buffy had never been the slayer she wouldn't have done any of the great things she did and would never have inspired Willow to be more powerful, so she'd never have become a witch. As far as I can see that revelation meant that almost every strong woman in the show ultimatly owed her power to men. That seems to go against what I always considered one of the messages of the show to be.

that does kinda bother me...i agree with you bellona!

It doesn't matter where the power comes from, what matters is what she did with it. In the end, she defied them and changed their stupid rules. She shared her power- SHE gave the power to all the potentials. I think it was meant to be a sexist origin, with these men basically "raping" a girl and forcing her to become something that they couldn't/wouldn't become themselves. And then Buffy turns the tables, breaks the rules and in the end makes a feminist statement by empowering the potentials.

I liked that it was activated by men, but Buffy found a way to spread the power. It sounded like a na na na na na na, to all guys.

I see that Fanfly, and I do get what they were trying to do but the fact remains that Buffy and Willow were only able to do that, and every other thing they've ever done because of those first men.
Without the power given to her by those men she couldn't have empowered the potentials.

Buffy only became the type of person who could do great things due to her responsabilities and experiances as a slayer, she says her self that she was just like Cordelia before being activated. So like I said, I still feel nearly all the women in the show owe their power to men.

I found that the second most annoying thing in s7. (The most annoying thing being empty places)

I agree it's annoying to think that the source of all these strong women was men.

@Bellona, Boiled down to the bare bones, yes. But I'm a firm believer that origin is far less important than accomplishment. It doesn't matter where you came from, what matters is what you do. And who's to say that Buffy and Willow wouldn't have accomplished great things, even without their powers? If they're not a slayer and a witch, does that really make them lesser? No one can say what they would have done with their lives if fate hadn't intervened.

Wow, really? I thought this was part of Joss's genius. Am I just seeing a metaphor that isn't there?

The feminist movement of the twentieth century arose from millenia of suppression from patriarchal western society in which women were only what men allowed or wanted them to be. But then, we stood up. We are our own persons, our own individuals, and we decide who we are and what we do, no one else. The fact that men created the slayer was a parallel to the fact that men created the first feminist through the very suppression that was supposed to keep women in control. How can you have a hero without a villain, after all. They were not celebrated in Joss's film; on the contrary, they were vilified. The creation of the slayer was a disgusting, brutal violation (akin to rape), out of which grew a line of strong women that they could never have predicted would arrive. They could never have imagined the power that slayer would hold, nor the generation of brilliant and strong women that came after her, nor what that one woman would do.

In other words, in trying to suppress women, they made them stronger. In trying to conquer women, the women conquered them. The slayers don't get their power from men-- they get it from the demon inside of them. They get it from their own, personal power source.

I thought it was a beautiful metaphor on Joss's part.

Yay, Cinders said it better than I ever could!

Well, yes and no really. I picked yes because when I saw it I wasn't crazy about the idea, but that was partly because I just preferred the idea of slayers being a naturally (or mystically I guess) occurring thing. It was just more of a preference thing than anything for me.

But it never bothered me either really because I just think of what Buffy said to the first slayer as I think it applies to those men too "You're not the source of me"

yeah it took the juice out of the fact that the show was finally about strong women who were doing a job most would concider for a man! she's not ur classic superhero no cape or costume just a girl! i thought it was horrible then they dropped that on us!

I agree with Cinders totally

the slayer is almost always given a male watcher so why should owing their powers to men be any different

Well basket_case1880 there is a big difference between having a watcher who is there to assist you and guide you who is a man and owing your power to a man. It's two completely diffrent concepts.

I agree with Asvini that the main reason it bothered me was just because I thought the idea of slayers being a naturally occuring thing to balance the scales was simply a better explination.

although i think of it like they gave the first slayer the power but not the others and then in the end willow gives her power to make all other people that should be slayers will be slayers

actually I haven't even thought about it