I regularly wank it out just as a preventative measure. Have I ever been in a position to have sex with a young gorgeous actress? No, but if it ever happens, I’ve put in the work to resist her charms.

You and your wife actually fit in the age rule — half your age + 7, so there’s no need to for you to be skeptical about the discourse. Whedon and women in their 20s definitely does not. Even his current wife, Heather Horton, is only 22.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there are almost no healthy romantic relationships in the Buffyverse, particularly for Buffy herself.

As someone who was a younger woman at one time, I totally endorse your comment. Intellect very often has nothing to do with social or emotional smarts. 

Considering she was under age and worked for him, the answer is yes.  Always yes; you can say no.  Your brain doesn’t actually live in your dick.

Thank you. The same goes for his works too:

The work I always think of related to that is the movie Easy Rider. It was a huge success when it came out and represented a new style of filmmaking that hadn’t been used in popular cinema much prior to it. I saw it 30ish years after it came out, and I find it painfully boring and uninteresting. The only benefit I…

Welp, TheMutantWalrus is clearly a man in his 50's who only dates barely legal co-eds, so your thoughtful arguments won’t land, because, “you guys, I’m just worried about these poor young women not being patronized!”

Of course you can blame him. Putting yourself in his place and coming to no conclusions is not a reason to excuse his behavior. Your lack of conviction may have nothing to do with what he experienced. He had a choice, you have a choice. You can say NO to her, she isn’t some goddess casting a spell. It speaks to his…

“If I were in the same position, would I be able to say no to her?”

I agree.

I think that identifying the kind of power dynamic is useful, though, and the fact that there’s an intellectual imbalance is important because a 22 year old might be able to recite and analyze Shakespeare (I could do that better at 22, with everything fresh in my mind than I’d be able to now), but they don’t know…

I’ll grant you that, and having never been a 23 year old woman, I’ll refrain from speculating about any of that. My wife was 23 when we started dating, however (I was 30), so you might imagine why I’m skeptical of the discourse on this subject.

I think we largely agree; I’m just parsing it out a bit differently than you are. I’m a 40 year old woman myself, who’s always been above-average in intelligence, and it’s definitely not about common measures of ‘smartness’. I would say a better way of phrasing it is that a man in his 50s who is constantly looking for…

How convenient for him that he keeps stumbling across these 20-year old intellectual giants!

I think this is also about a guy who probably did not get a whole lot of action until he was a Hollywood big shot. He’s like the tech bro who spent most of his life not getting the time of day from attractive women, and once he comes into money exacts his revenge.

It’s really great that you’re doing this when Eliza Dushku has a long history of being harassed and assaulted by predatory men

Look, I’m not saying all 23 year olds are idiots, or that a young woman, or man, can’t date someone older. If Florenece Pugh and Zach Braff are happy together, that’s their business.

It’s not about intellect; it’s about socialization, power dynamics, and how younger women who may not have had the life experience to really get it are preyed on by older men. If a 50 year old dude dates ONE 23 year old, maybe it’s really a relationship of equals. But if that’s ALL he does, he’s a creep who knows…

I’ve been watching Passion of the Nerd’s Buffy recaps on YouTube lately. One of things that the reviewer keeps bringing up is the issue of choice and how it’s a recurring theme throughout the show. “You have a choice. You don’t have a good choice, but you have a choice” (from S2E7 “Lie to Me”).