Sorry To This Man

Damn, I’m going to write about Joss Whedon again. If you haven’t already, you should read New York Magazine’s cover story on the former Hollywood wunderkind. I know, you’re thinking, why give another Bad Man (or at very least Icky Man) that big a platform? Why glorify what certainly sounds like toxic, sexist and even racist workplace behavior? Because sometimes when you let people just talk they show themselves — they really, really show themselves.

While Joss may not fall into the category of unrepentant, irredeemable monsters, à la your Harvey Weinsteins and your Kevin Spaceys and your Bill Cosbys, he definitely shows himself to have a depressingly common view of women. Namely, that we’re trophies for powerful men to conquer, possess, use and then discard. For a man who was put on a pedestal as “one of the good ones” for years and years, it’s more than a disappointment. It’s a betrayal.

He is yet another reminder that so-called progressive dudes can still be secretly (or not so secretly) misogynistic assholes with shockingly regressive views of women’s worth and no idea of how to run a safe and inclusive workplace.

Essentially, Joss admits he slept with actresses on his shows because he never got to sleep with hot girls when he was younger and wouldn’t forgive himself for passing up the opportunity now — or something.

What Joss does in this messy interview (because he is a mess, not the reporter) is his desperate attempt to rehab his media darling image, while simultaneously basically copping to being kind of a jerk. So, you know, that’s fun.

Do I still think “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was a great show that touched on important topics while also tapping into a very specific zeitgeist? You bet. Do I think Joss is another guy who is now essentially high on his own supply? You super bet. Narcissism is a hell of a drug, folks.

Until men stop viewing women as rewards, and stop seeing their own so-called genius as more important than treating people respectfully and fairly, we’ll keep getting more Joss Whedons and worse yet more Weinsteins and Cosbys.

ETA: The “Sorry to This Man” meme is just a bit of rhetorical shade – with absolutely nothing to do with apologizing for, to, or about the man in question.