Neil Gaiman explains what 'strong women' in Buffy are REALLY about

[ismnotwasm]

Love this quote
(I'm also a total Neil Gaiman fangirl)

"It's worth pointing out that people, unfortunately, misunderstand the phrase 'strong women,'" Gaiman said. "The glory of Buffy is it was filled with strong women. Only one of those strong women had supernatural strength and an awful lot of sharpened stakes. And people sort of go 'Well yes, of course Buffy was a strong woman. She could kick her way through a door.' And you go 'No, that's not actually what makes her a strong woman! You're missing the point.'"

http://www.blastr.com/2013-12-27/neil-gaiman-explains-what-strong-women-buffy-are-really-about

If you are a Buffy fan-- I wasn't particularly, I'm a reader, the BBC broadcast is kinda cool

[Locrian]

1. Buffy

Buffy had strength AND vulnerability. She was also able to express emotions like fear, sadness, etc that typical 'badass' male heros are never allowed - which in the end (even thought she was partly an 'action' character) makes for a more human and powerful character.

I think they did a decent job showing that Buffy's ability to work with the other characters (who were often considered 'weak') was what allowed her to 'win'.

In addition to of course actually writing a decent number of female characters and character development in the series, who didn't rely on male support.