I need to go on a surprise spuffy rant because I'm introducing a friend to the show and we're in the middle of S6. And I looooove spuffy but not the takes a lot of ppl have abt it...... I'm talking specifically S6 spuffy (and I'm not gonna go into Seeing Red here).
I see a lot of people very blatantly ignore that Spike is a manipulative little shit and in doing so it ruins the perception of the (very fun) dynamic between them.
Spike has been manipulative, opportunistic and a general asshole from day one, we all know this, and being in love with Buffy doesn't make it go away (and in some cases makes it worse). I'm not disputing that he doesn't genuinely love her or that he didn't do good things for her, but in S6 he is very obviously manipulating Buffy into feeling more isolated from her friends, insisting that he's the only one who understands her, she's not like them, she came back wrong, she's wrong like him and she should stay with him, etc. I don't know how people miss that but it ties into my other point.
I don't think Buffy feeling guilty for sleeping with Spike is anti-sex. I'm willing to agree that there may have been some judgemental factor in the writing that influenced it, but you can't convince me that it doesn't make sense why she would feel that way. Spike is actively in her ear telling her she's an evil creature while they're together, the second he gets his claws into her he plays into her insecurities. "Why does she think she's evil just because she has kinks that makes no sense" BECAUSE THE MAN SHE IS EXPLORING THESE KINKS WITH IS TELLING HER SHE IS EVIL. Please pay attention in this class it is important to meeee.
