Buffy and the Phallus

Buffy wielding a phallus in Season Four’s “The Freshman”

As I have discussed in the previous post, Buffy is required to adapt certain male attributes in order to be successful as the Slayer. While I previously discussed the behavioral aspects in this adaptation of male characteristics, in this post I will be discussing the symbolic adaptation of masculine attributes. In particular, I will be discussing the overtly masculine, borrowed phallus that Buffy uses throughout the series, the phallic stake that she uses to kill vampires. When an object is phallic, it is “…representing or suggestive of a phallus…male dominance or (usually male) sexuality in general…” (OED: Phallic). In using the stake, female Buffy has appropriated a phallus, and by wielding it, she is able to dominate her opponents. What the phallic nature of the stake does, then, is add to the already masculinized role of the Slayer (Jowett 21) and in doing so, creates an implication that to hold the upper hand as a Slayer, it is imperative that the Slayer uses a symbolic phallus to succeed.      

A “…heteronormative sexual script puts men in the role of the pursuer and women in the role of the one being pursued…” (Franiuk and Scherr 17). This can be seen in the typical Vampire-victim relationship, wherein the often male Vampire hunts the typically female victim (Franiuk and Scherr 14). Vampires also wield a phallus, in that their fangs and bite act in that capacity. The penetrating act of their fangs allows them to dominate their victims, and in doing so, it becomes a symbolic phallus for them. Often times “…The embrace and bite are a parody of the sexual act…they are traditionally performed by a male character on a female victim who is passive and seems to welcome his touch. As a result of the pain of the bite and the loss of blood, she even experiences a pseudo-orgasm, which Buffy herself illustrates when she cures a poisoned Angel by letting him feed on her…” (Spaise 745).

Buffy taking on the unfamiliar role of vampire-bite recipient from Angel, and illustrating the pseudo sexual act this dynamic takes (Spaise 747).

In Buffy, this expectation is largely reworked. By actively pursuing the demon foes she faces, Buffy reverses this gender dynamic and asserts herself into a traditionally male position. She fights back against their attacks and their bites, and in doing so, asserts herself into a masculine role.

The positioning in the masculine role is perpetuated with the symbolic phallus Buffy wields in her combats. The stake is Buffy’s primary weapon throughout the series. Using it more than any other weapon, the stake is symbolic of Buffy’s power as a Slayer. With its phallic attributes, her power is represented by this phallus, thus designating her power as something masculine. Aside from its phallic shape, the stake is used in a thrusting motion that is reminiscent of the masculine sexual act of penetration. This reworks the sexuality component represented in male Vampires in popular culture (Spaise 747) by appropriating this penetrative action to the female Slayer. With the penetrative nature of her weapons, Buffy is masculinized in her fighting (Jowett 25). In the action of penetrating her opponents with a phallus to assert her dominance in the situation, Buffy is asserting herself into a masculine role, and by doing so, is able to conquer her opponent.

Buffy wielding her phallus, a stake that she uses to conquer her opponents with.

In Season Five’s “Fool For Love”, the episode opens with Buffy fighting a Vampire in a cemetery as is common in the series. As she begins to dominate the fight using hand to hand combat, she goes to use her stake. She holds it up, ready to thrust it into the Vampires chest, but the vampire is able to maneuver it out of her control, and turn her stake back on her, stabbing her in the abdomen (“Fool for Love”). By doing so, the Vampire has taken her phallus, and uses it to dominate Buffy. The Vampire begins to pursue her through the cemetery as an injured Buffy runs fearfully away from him. He begins to dominate her in the fight, culminating with him wielding the phallus over Buffy and beginning to thrust it towards her, only to be thwarted by Buffy’s boyfriend who was patrolling with her (“Fool for Love”).

Buffy losing control of her phallus, and thus, losing her dominant position in the combat (“Fool for Love”)

Buffy then consults Spike, a Vampire who has killed two Slayers in the past, who shares the details of his first Slayer kill. During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China, Spike fought a Slayer (“Fool for Love”). In this instance, Spike’s fight demonstrates the significance of the phallus as wielded by the Slayer. Initially, the Slayer is dominating Spike in the fight, to the point of having him pinned to a wall with her phallus wielded and ready to be thrust into him.

Spike gains the upper hand in the situation, and begins to use his phallus, his embrace and his bite. (“Fool for Love”)

However, due to an explosion, this Slayer drops her phallus, and thus becomes vulnerable in her fight with Spike. He is able to overpower  her, and in doing so, use his phallus – his Vampire bite –  to conquer his opponent. She lost her phallus, and in turn, Spike uses his symbolic phallus of his bite to dominate her in the combat.

As I have discussed in a previous post, the use of masculine attributes in Buffy’s slaying becomes problematic for her representation as a powerful female figure, and the use of the phallic stake is no exception. Indeed, it becomes problematic in that in order for Buffy to remain dominant in most of her fights, she must wield the phallus, which is an inherently male symbol. The source of her dominance is her phallic stake, thus making the implication that the source of her dominance is in the masculine components of her persona. While it must be noted that Buffy does have physical prowess  with regard to her hand to hand fighting, another masculine attribute that comes with the Slayer abilities (Labre and Duke 141), when her phallus is taken or lost, she become less dominant in the situation. When her phallus is stripped and she loses the upper hand in the combat, Buffy is coded more in line with her feminine “Buffy” side as opposed to the masculine “Slayer” side of her identity. She becomes more vulnerable, and in doing so, it works to once again privilege her masculine side by reiterating that her feminine side is weaker and less capable of fighting. This privileging of the masculine over the feminine creates an inequality in the representation of female power; as a result, the figure of the female Slayer is only able to be largely powerful when her fighting is coded with masculine attributes.