I think that Wesley gets too much hate in this episode. First I happen to look at the idea of Billy awakening an ancient primordial misogyny that exists in every man to be ridiculous. I do subscribe to the idea that it's basically mind control and the reason why Angel was not affected by it is because he's a fellow demon. The points that some fans seem to get on Wesley for are that he falls victim to the control too early and that Fred shouldn't have to comfort him at the end it should be the other way around.

Regarding the first point by all accounts, it took a very long time for Wesley to be consumed by the same outward violence towards women that every other guy taken by Billy's control does. Since they had to walk to the drive to the area of the crime and he touched the sample there, I would say he and Fred probably walked back in say 15-20 minutes. Then it takes more time for them to use their microscopes and such to discover the elements of Billy's blood and while at that point Wesley begins acting more odd the violent streak doesn't come through for a while. By all accounts it took more than a half hour for Wesley to be fully taken over. For contrast Gunn who I am not bashing at all here seemed to fall faster in quicker time and it was only Fred explaining to him what happened and realizing it would have happened to him too that lead to him asking her to knock him out and the misogyny was showing there too much more outwardly violent than Wesley as well. I mentioned that not to bash but to show that Wesley had more resistance than even Gunn who is a very strong person. Meanwhile with Wesley by the time Fred realizes what has happened he's too far gone for it to make a difference. So I don't think Wesley deserves any real flack for this.