What if Spike was a girl?

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This Year's Girl

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Sineya
Ok, so the question is:

If Spike was precisely the way he was in Btvs with the only exception that he was a girl, do you think you would view the character/things the character did differently then?

I would. Even if we might not want it to be that way, what gender someone has effects the way we view that someone. Regardless of gender Spike's personality has something I'm very drawn to and can't help but to like, yes, so my positive feelings about the character wouldn't change. I would however definitely see some of things Spike did in a totally different light. Two examples from the top of my head:

- The whole "doing everything for love" thing doesn't seem so appealing for one thing. I think all the relationships Spike had were destructive, but still they had really interesting and appealing elements to them. Something I see they all (Harmony/spike not included) had in common were that it was often reversed gender roles in them, Spike was often portrayed in a way a girl in a heterosexual relationship would traditional be portrayed - self sacrificing and "inferior". If Spike was a girl and had heterosexual relationships in the Btvs that element would be missing and Spike would just be another girl hanging out with a lot of jerks (granted, being a jerk herself a lot of the time too 🙂).

- Spuffy! Spuffy's one of my favourite ships in the Btvs canon, but if it would've been two girls - TOTALLY would've been my favourite 'ship of all time! Buffy turning out to be gay/bi and Spike being the one who "made that happen" and then the struggles they had would've totally made me see the relationship differently. For one, I think I would've seen Buffy's selfhatred as a way of not accepting that she was gay.

Discuss away! I thought this was a really interesting thought and would love to hear your opinions!
 
I don't think it would have quite the same affect on me to be honest. What I like about Spike is that not only was he an anomaly in terms of vampires, but he wasn't the typical man either. He wore his heart on his sleeve which contrasts with his other, more masculine character traits. I found the contrast interesting. I don't think I would have found it quite as interesting if Spike were a woman as the contrast would be lost somewhat.
 
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sisterofmercy said:
What I like about Spike is that not only was he an anomaly in terms of vampires, but he wasn't the typical man either. He wore his heart on his sleeve which contrasts with his other, more masculine character traits. I found the contrast interesting. I don't think I would have found it quite as interesting if Spike were a woman as the contrast would be lost somewhat.
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I agree, this is the reason I love Spike too! But: if Spike were a girl, wouldn't that also be the thing that made him interesting? His mixture of traits coded as female and traits coded as male? It would just be the other way around, with the masculine traits being the unusual.
 
I would have loved Spike just the same because had he been a she, she would have been me except a vampire. But I think a lot of people would have disliked her. I mean... when a guy does everything he does with a woman in mind, he's strong and sweet... but when a woman does everything she does with a man in mind, she's week and desperate.

It's interesting to me you say if Spike appeared exactly the way he was except a woman and then you start talking about Spuffy being two girls. I think all vampires in the buffyverse are a bit bi, but I think Spike was primarily straight so to me, that wouldn't have worked... If they did choose to do that had Spike been a woman, it would have been interesting and amazing.
 
This Year's Girl said:
I agree, this is the reason I love Spike too! But: if Spike were a girl, wouldn't that also be the thing that made him interesting? His mixture of traits coded as female and traits coded as male? It would just be the other way around, with the masculine traits being the unusual.
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I think it would have seemed a bit too much like Faith/Buffy in that respect, there were already females on the show that had masculine characteristics. Adding another to the mix would have reduced the impact for me.
 
Something I could see stay the same way is the clothes and bad ass attitude(although some bad assness seems to often be included with vampires, since they're evil and strong). Spike is trying to get away from his past, the riches and manners through acting like a bad ass, kind of putting up a shield between himself and who he used to be. Partly, or mainly, since he seems to have thought his mother didn't love him the way he thought (which he figured out was untrue in Lies my parents told me). That his heart gor broken by a girl and the other jerks from his social background, he'd wish to get away from that life for that as well.

As a girl, he could go through the same grief, heart break and humiliation, and then get turned, and wish to act like a bad ass, to put up a shield. The fact that he/she would also a female vampire in a man's could also make him even more eager to act bad ass, if he, like he did on the show, was a gentle creature. I assume girl-Spike would want to make herself less feminine, to protect himself. Fight and sleep around, kind of like Faith did, as a way to put the shields up and re-event herself (I assume Faith wasn't born bad, she became bad because of a crappy life).
 
Intriguing thought, but theres another side to it. If Spike were a she, could she have brought herself to kill the Slayers?

Fellow women with an unnatural almost curse put upon them in a male dominated world, would a female Spike have seen them more like kin? lets say Darla turned Liam, as Angel, he does not persue Drusilla but turns Spike instead, but without the torment and madness. Being a little sister like Vampire to them both, trying to butch up a little, becomes something similar to the Spike we know, perhaps kills the Chinese Slayer and regrets it.

The team breaks up after Angel's soul is restored, Spike travels the world alone, comes to Sunnydale for some other reason, falls in love with Buffy straight out in Season 2/3, unrequited love goes on through season 7, same sacrifice made. Could have been quite a story to it.
 
Maybe. But part of what I loved about Spike was James Marster's performance, and it would be hard to replicate that. So I doubt I would have liked the character as much.

Still, I'm sure a good actress would have been cast, and if everything had remained the same as to how Spike was portrayed, I would have likely been a fan of the character.

Who knows, in 20 years they may reboot Buffy and make Spike a woman. It happened on Battlestar Galactica! 😉
 
In the long run I think it would have been difficult to make a female Spike more distinctive as a character- looking at the way Spike developed, what would she do that Faith didn't, for example?

Two exceptions, though- if Spike and Drusilla turned up in S2 as a couple and you then had the same dynamic with Angelus in the second half of the season, that could be interesting although possibly a bit strong for the series at that point in time. And then in 'Chosen', you could have Spike sacrificing herself in the knowledge that Buffy really belonged with Angel- but you would have had to skirt around a lot of the darker side of the sex which was pushing things as it was.
 
I'll tell you one thing; if Spike was a girl I would have enjoyed the Buffy/Spike relationship a hell of a lot more.
 
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