Not entering the discussion right now because
I actually have wondered about Buffy = fantastically feminist, Whedon = feminist, wondered as in 'had my doubts and underdefined reservations' but I've only read the comic and haven't seen a single episode, ditto for Firefly. So I can't claim I have any sort of informed opinion, but I don't usually dismiss radical feminism and agree with a lot of it.
There's still a chance that this is some frightfully elaborate hoax, because:
Context: first commenter is Dissenter of "All of you but not me are slashing tools of the patriarchy."
I'm a double dog clutch, if you were wondering.
There's still a chance that this is some frightfully elaborate hoax, because:
I feel awful for Joss Whedon's wife. From what I've read about him and the interviews I've watched, I'm fairly certain that he rapes his wife and abuses her in various other ways.
Context: first commenter is Dissenter of "All of you but not me are slashing tools of the patriarchy."
I'm a double dog clutch, if you were wondering.
On the other hand, they both strike me as *terribly* young and with a lot of trauma/personal issues they're working through.
I think there are points to be made about Joss Whedon's feminism or lack thereof... but these are not those points.
I'd say that my primary problem with the portrayal of women in Joss Whedon's work is that I think they're one-note characters, and his attempts to "develop" them as characters seem to begin and end with who they sleep with. I do not think they show significant growth and maturation in the course of his shows. Male characters, however, seem to have more depth, and also show more maturation.
This is not to say that female characters don't change, because they do change. It's just that these changes seem to be large, abrupt, related to sex, and, frankly, rather unbelievable.
Personally, I tend to ascribe that mostly to "characters being jerked around as necessary to make the plot work," but I think there's a fair complaint to be made that it doesn't happen with the male characters. So.
Willow and her "I'm gay now, totally gay, no men ever!" thing was a strange contradiction with her prior physical attraction to Oz and Xander is a good example, as is her "See how I'm going to DESTROY THE WORLD because you killed my lover." (Which I would count as the least believable story arc ever.) Buffy's character arcs were tightly tied to whomever she was dating at the time, and, from the sound of the recent comic, that's not going to change.
Overall, I'd say that Buffy's circumstances changed over the course of the show, but Buffy did not. Xander, by contrast, did change.
Mind you, I quite liked the first three seasons of Buffy, and I kept watching the other four in the hopes I'd like it again. I always liked the dialogue.