I have been a huge fan of Buffy since the moment the first episode aired where she was lying in bed, dreaming of the evil baddies coming to town. I was with her in the car as Joyce Summers drove her to Sunnydale High where Buffy met the people who would one day form the nucleus of the Scoobies. And I knew then that this was going to be one of those shows that went down into television history. For all the beauty and wonder of Buffy the Vampire Slayer though, branding itself into our culture and collective hearts, I have noticed one disturbing trend in the series: the emasculation of the male characters. I have a theory about this. My belief is that Buffy is, in fact, her own special breed of vampire. Whereas traditional vampires suck the blood from their victims, Buffy drains the testosterone from the characters she is involved with—this appears to be the true source of the Slayer’s power. Nowhere is this better illustrated than with the Spike character. Spike is now a veteran of the series, but he wasn’t one of the first to fall victim to Buffy’s gonad vampirism. He is simply her most recent victim.

The first victim was Angel. Angel is a mysterious character during the early episodes. We know very little about him other than he’s debonair and a master of the one-liners; meanwhile, Buffy at this time is a soft ingénue who is just learning her powers and skills.  …