Is Buffy slut shaming Dawn in "Him"?

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

When Buffy sees Dawn dancing with RJ in the Bronze, she is visibly horrified, and comments "so do you have plans later? Or are you just going to go down to the docks, wait for the fleet to come in?"

What do you think about Buffy's comment here? Is it justified? Or is she slut shaming Dawn? Let's discuss.

 

[KaitKat]

Buffy is in over her head. She’s been drafted for a role that she’s not ready for and it sometimes shows. She does the best she can but honestly she makes a 16/17 year old Dawn leave the room because Willow made a sex joke. She has issues letting Dawn grow up.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Dawn's a minor child and Buffy is her legal guardian. Buffy is acting in Dawn's best interests by trying to delay her age of first sexual activity. I mean, a feminist might argue all those things are just sexist barriers to women expressing themselves, but that's an absurdum. But given the increasingly ridgid stance internet feminists are taking on age of majority, I don't think they will.

 

[NotASlayer]

Though it does seem to fit many definitions, I don't think she is. As said, Buffy is in over her head a lot of the time with Dawn. Perhaps not coincidentally, Buffy behaved in a very similar fashion and at the same age in "When She Was Bad".

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Dawn's a minor child and Buffy is her legal guardian. Buffy is acting in Dawn's best interests by trying to delay her age of first sexual activity.

You don't think Buffy may be overreacting a bit? After all, she was dancing at the Bronze at that same age, wearing a similar outfit.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Of course she is. There is an eternal war between parents and teenage girls as to what is appropriate clothing. Ideally, the two sides will come to some sort of compromise where the parent's fears are partially allayed, and the daughter still gets to impress her friends and maybe get the guy to notice her. It's part of growing up.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Of course she is...

The irony is that Buffy basically throws herself at R.J. later in the episode...

 

[KaitKat]

I want to add to this and say it’s hard for parents in general to deal with teenagers and sex. You can’t really stop them or forbid them from doing it but you also can’t have them exploring casual sex at a young age. Finding a balance between getting them to wait until they are emotionally mature and straight up thinking you will stop it is challenging. I do sympathize with Buffy. She isn’t wrong here it’s the first time she’s known Dawn to experiment with her sexuality and any adult watching obviously knows this isn’t the right person and Buffy reacted. Could it have been down better yes but it’s also pretty human.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I thought that Buffy felt Dawn was getting too much like Faith and felt she (Buffy) was becoming like Willow once was. Was Buffy being a little jealous that her young sister could have more intrigue invested in her than she (Buffy) had.

 

[fauxindigo]

When Buffy sees Dawn dancing with RJ in the Bronze, she is visibly horrified, and comments "so do you have plans later? Or are you just going to go down to the docks, wait for the fleet to come in?"

What do you think about Buffy's comment here? Is it justified? Or is she slut shaming Dawn? Let's discuss.

yes but I find that scene so funny and entertaining I don't care. It's funny because Dawn & RJ's sexually charged dance is not that different from Buffy's dance with Xander in 'When She Was Bad'. It's funny how crazy obsessed Dawn is with him, how dry and sassy Buffy's humor is and the dialogue is juicy, campy fun. other favorites .. "First with the lap dance and now with the catfight. Hey! Wanna get drunk and barf next?" & "I'm sorry but I like the way RJ makes me feel and if you think that makes me a slut or whatever, I don't care!"

 

[garfan]

yes but I find that scene so funny and entertaining I don't care. It's funny because Dawn & RJ's sexually charged dance is not that different from Buffy's dance with Xander in 'When She Was Bad'. It's funny how crazy obsessed Dawn is with him, how dry and sassy Buffy's humor is and the dialogue is juicy, campy fun. other favorites .. "First with the lap dance and now with the catfight. Hey! Wanna get drunk and barf next?" & "I'm sorry but I like the way RJ makes me feel and if you think that makes me a slut or whatever, I don't care!"

yeah, well Buffy was traumatized and intentionally being terrible to people when she did that

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

@CassieForever what do you think?

 

[CassieForever]

I do think Buffy in general tries too hard to play the "mature adult" guardian with Dawn. (Of course, she's worried that if she doesn't, Dawn will get sent into foster care.) Too harsh towards Dawn about her wild dancing with RJ, too. In general "Him" is so over-the-top absurd and funny that I just take it as entertainment I mean, Anya and Willow are mooning RJ's buns and Anya points out Willow's gay and Willow confidently responds "We can work around it." Hilarious.