Sex and the Slayer, Lorna Jowett - subtitled "A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan," Lowett's book doesn't really take on much that hasn't been tackled in Slayage, the BtVS academic playground.

As an introduction for the fan that doesn't want to wade through 5 volumes of the journal, it's a concise and well-arranged series of arguments about the gendering of series characters, presentations of 'bad' and 'good' girls, boys, and monsters, and a lengthy, often articulated argument about race (which doesn't really fit with the subtitle). I personally find the idea of "fanthropology" and academic fen rather amusing more than serious, but I have to give the academy props for accepting it as any other discipline.

Originally Read July 2005