The idea that the entire universe can be reduced to numbers or that it is “based on math” is as ludicrous as the idea that everything extant consists of earth, air, fire and water.

Who gives a shit if Joss Whedon is a feminist or not? And anyway, if someone has affairs or multiple affairs doesn’t make them not a feminist. If that were the case, half of all feminists would have to disavow that appellation, including many former and current leaders of the movement.

The more important question is: was and is his work any good or not? And was it better — for women and feminism — than other work at the time? Did it actually center women, and seem to like them? (Strangely, a lot of work during that time created by women seemed to not actually like women very much.)

And the answer to those questions I think is “yes.”

Was it the perfect unalloyed paragon of peerless feminism? No. But then again, nothing is.

Demanding perfection from any human being is a fool’s demand. No one will ever meet it, and you will always be disappointed.

Whedon is not the perfect feminist. Then again, he never strove to be. That is a label that others foisted on him and demanded that he uphold. It’s not something he ever claimed for himself.

Buffy might seem a bit passé now, after nearly 20 years — but name one other TV show that focused on a young woman as powerful, interesting and worthy of notice not because of how she looked but because of what she did and who she was?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.