Seeing Red & "The Monster Myth" | A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast

This is a re-airing of "Seeing Red & 'The Monster Myth,'" which originally aired in our Patreon feed alongside Buffy's S6E19: "Seeing Red"

We've chosen to re-air this episode in the main feed the week after Season 7's second episode, "Beneath You," to double down on the conversation surrounding accountability, and on the nuance that exists when there is a pre-existing intimate relationship that has to be navigated in the context of harm. You’ll hear Jess talk about those who share childcare responsibilities, finances, and in other ways still have to rely on the person who has harmed them, and also hear us speak to the importance of letting the person harmed — in this case Buffy — dictate the terms of the relationship.

Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, Rape
This episode contains spoilers through the end of Buffy Season 7

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We are in conversation with Jess Clark, who today joins Alba Daza and Kristin Russo to foster a space for much-needed and nuanced conversation on Spike's sexual assault of Buffy as depicted in S6E19's "Seeing Red."

We explore how media has historically shaped what we anticipate and assume about sexual assault, how this episode upends some of those tropes, and how the episode's depiction and the larger arc between Spike and Buffy can be used as a lens to explore much more beyond Sunnydale.

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This episode was produced & hosted by Alba Daza, Jess Clark,& Kristin Russo

Find Alba Daza on Instagram @alba.daza; albadaza.com

Jess Clark is the Prevention Manager at Solace Crisis Treatment Center (a rape crisis center) in Santa Fe, NM and a consultant for Catharsis Productions out of Chicago. He has been doing sexual violence prevention for a decade and his work focuses on increasing youth capacity to interrogate systems of oppression, exploring queer/trans masculinites as a site of violence prevention, and supporting organizations in better serving transgender communities through policies and best practices.

Find Kristin Russo on Twitter & Instagram @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com

Find Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram

Listen to today's episode of Angel On Top in their new feed:
bufferingthevampireslayer.com/angelontop

Edited by: John Mark Nelson & Kristin Russo
Logo Design by: Kristine Thune
Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team

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If you are able, please donate to Survived & Punished: survivedandpunished.org

Survived & Punished is a prison abolition organization. We believe that prisons, detention centers, all forms of law enforcement, and punitive prosecution are rooted in systems of violence, including racial, anti-trans/queer, sexual, and domestic violence. Our work specifically focuses on criminalized survivors to raise awareness about the integrated relationship between systems of punishment and the pervasiveness of gender violence. We aim to initiate mass defense projects that will free all survivors, which would require the abolition of prisons and other systems of punishment.

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Further Reading / Papers Referenced by Alba & Jess in episode

• Bullying Perpetration and Subsequent Sexual Violence Perpetration Among Middle School Students
• The Undetected Rapist
• American Perceptions of Sexual Violence

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We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Alba occupies Tiohtià:ke of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. Mack, LaToya, Morgan, and John Mark occupy the lands of the Kizh Peoples.

Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at
bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting

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