It's a very tricky notion to describe (as are most other similar topics), because all us mortals are different and will have their own interpretations, so here's my take on the subject. I believe every woman can become, be whatever the hell she wants to be. Women and men are equal and should therefor have the same rights, and treated as such. No discrimination (no positive discrimination either). If a woman wants to be a housewife: fine, I have no problems with that. As long as women have respect for themselves and stand up to defend their identity (-ies), deal with things, they hold a kind of integrity that empowers them. I have this hobby (well, it's been a while since I've practiced it), it's already out of the ordinary, but as a girl, I had to explain myself twice as hard to justify it. I have this interest in weapons (not in a violent way, more in a historical and sportive manner). During my travels I bought a couple of swords, daggers,... and I have this air rifle which I use to shoot indoor, on cards (never animals or humans), at a stand, in a shooting complex, at a distance of 10 meter. It's an Olympic discipline, but you should have seen the looks on people's faces in the past when I told them about my interests. They found it strange for a girl to be interested in stuff like that, weird that I never played with Barbies, but GI Jones (GI Jane wasn't there yet). Xena, Buffy action figures are cool to stand on your closet, but a pity they didn't come sooner. Anyway, that's why I found it super for series like XWP and Buffy to arrive: See, they can handle swords ! Buffy can shoot a crossbow, Will a tranquilizer gun (what I wouldn't give to see her use it on Whedon and co...) They were like the rolemodels I always missed when I was a child. You can imagine how disappointed I was when I noticed Buffy wasn't herself anymore during the last season. I've compared Buffy and Willow and they both react differently. When Buff had this one-night-stand with that jerk, when she started university, I was apalled... I didn't expect that to happen to my heroine, though it was very human, it can happen to any of us. I thought she would learn out of her mistakes, but apparently she didn't (that much). When Willow found out about Oz and his female werewolfie, she turned to magic. The build-up was already there, so I can understand where they wanted to go this season, up till Villains, that is. The final might screw everything up. In that respect, I can appreciate Will's reaction more, because she's willing to do something about it: "Act, don't react.", while Buffy was kinda pathetic in the last season. Because it's so realistic (one of my best friends always falling for the wrong guy, people I know who were raped but never reported it, and suffer from severe trauma's, depressions because of it,...) I hoped they would offer an other portrayel for the way they managed to cope with things. In stead, they just headed for the psychology textbook reaction: rape victims feel ashamed (maybe even feelings of guilt: did I brought it upon myself ?), don't dare to talk about it, or take action. Buffy should have staked Spike. He's not human, no matter how hard they want to try and make him that way. They give him a lot of credit, thanks to this chip, because he started to fight for the good side, but that rape attempt was inexcusable. Spike has this twisted view on love, doesn't see the boundaries between sex where both parties agree, and plain rape... It must be extremely difficult to make report of a rape, because it feels like you're going through it all over again. Some people decide to manage on their own: it's a legitimate choice. Women often get victimized: people say they asked for it, they shouldn't have dressed that way. Bullshit. You never ask for it: NO = NO They dealt sloppy with it, indeed. I still hope there will be some consequences, but I doubt it. They wanna keep Spike, because he's supposed to be this cool, muscled, whatever character: fine, but don't expect us to sit through a rape attempt and still think he can be redeemed afterwards. As for Will, I'm so scared they're gonna demolish her character entirely, and break off everything they build up in the previous seasons. Of all the Scoobies, she's definitely one who has grown the most. She had overcome her addiction, but I feel for her, when she gives in again after Tara's death. It isn't what Tara would want, but it's understandable. If anything, I'd rather see her doing something, than nothing, like Buffy. As for being the big bad in the final eps, the evil witch going up against her friends: that's just fucked up. In Villains it was still Willow: ok, another face than the one we used to see her wearing, but she did save Buffy's life, when she talked about Tara, before killing Warren, her voice broke. They just want us to believe Will isn't strong enough to resist the power-drive, and that's what bugs me. Feelings of insecurity, (former ?) nerdiness, being the undervalued, underestimated sidekick... Hm, partly true: Buff referred to her as her big gun. Will's proven her worth plenty of times. Tara saw her for what she really was. Not only a genius with computers, straight A student, but also beautiful, with this special sense of humour (and the list goes on). She didn't need magic to prove herself, Tara made her see that, but now it all goes to waste... I think I just would have thought Willow has evolved so much during the seasons, also gained a sort of self-worth, thanks to Tara, she could have quit magic after Warren's death. You know: reality kicking in, breaking down, supported by her friends. Now the message is: don't mess with black magic, or you'll lose your self. Sorry, but we all got that already: after her Rack-session, shower-scene looked a lot like a post-rape scene too to me. It caused Tara and her to break up for a while, etc. I have to admit I get a kick out of women kicking ass, as long as it's justified: slayer-vamps, goodies-badies, Will settling her score with Warren, but that was enough: message intercepted, you don't have to rub our nose in it, in the meantime destroying one of your most interesting, consistent characters. Bloody bastards... Oeh, I just realized I've become a flaming o (flaming (J)o(ke) in my case), does that mean I get to show ME and co some of my fireworks ?
Where's a tranquilizer gun, when you need one, huh. /Joke walks in writers' room, whistling innocently... /poof/ Oops... Alrightie, now Joss's off to dreamland, you'd better do exactly as I tell you, or you'll be joining him. /couple of minutes later, writers are busy scribbling/ "Amber ? Why, hello, sweetie, guess what: you're back in business. Pack your bags, coz we need you for the last ep. Yeah, that's right, they are rewriting the last scenes as we speak. Seems like you're going to be in the 7th season after all, alive and well.../
) Anyway, she read a book for it, called "Girl power", and in terms of feminism, Xena didn't came out too good either. "Everyone's a critic." Gonna read it during the holidays, and see if it says something about Buffy. It's back to Eden. Women are the root of all evil. Willow gets represented as Eve, who's powerdriven towards the Tree of Knowledge, the forbidden fruit (forbidden world of magic). Result: catfight. "Can't we all just get along ?" 
, it's mentioned in the 'Watcher's Guide Volume 1') .