Buffy, Angel, and the Problem with Age-Gap Relationships
September 15, 2023
Content Warning: this is a post about people violating the age of consent.
Many years ago, a 12-year-old girl in my hometown became pregnant. I was also 12 at the time, but went to a different school, so I didn't know her personally. Nevertheless, I knew about her situation because my teacher took it as a chance to scold my class for belonging to a "promiscuous generation." Being the kind of obnoxious 7th grader who read the newspapers, however, I soon learned something that teacher had left out: the father of the baby had been arrested.
Sam Carter: I Feel Compelled to Warn You About My Dead Boyfriends
August 16, 2023
Sam: I feel compelled to warn you, most of the guys I have dated recently have died.
Pete: As in…
Sam: Dead.
Pete: How?
Carter: Various circumstances.
- "Chimera" (2004-01-30)
Welcome at last, readers, to the first installment of our Women's Division. This time, we're tackling the troubled love life of the Stargate character Dr. Samantha Carter - astrophysicist, Air Force officer, certified genius, gorgeous blonde, and permanently single lady.
Throwback: 17-year-old Claire defends Barbie (and Women's Intelligence)
August 2, 2023
The below article appeared March 9, 2009 in The Daily Record, which was then my local paper. I was a high school senior at the time, and someone in West Virginia wanted to ban dolls that "influence girls to be beautiful." (Yes, seriously. Even The Guardian covered it.) Incensed, I hit back with this op-ed, the thesis of which is effectively, "Stop underestimating women's capacity for critical thought." Last week when we saw the live-action Barbie in theaters, my mother was reminded of this op-ed, and reached out to the paper to get a copy. Here it is in all its late-Aughts glory...
The power of plastic
Never Cross a Picket Line: Support the WGA Strike
May 16, 2023
You may have noted a lack of a newsletter last week. We here at the DFGRR decided to skip it in solidarity with the Writers' Guild of America (WGA), which has been on strike since May 2nd.
Why are they on strike?
"Collateral Damage:" An Episode Powered by the Screams of Feminists
May 4, 2023
Claire: Ladies, we need to talk about the episode of Stargate SG-1 in which Cameron Mitchell is framed for murder via memory implant that caused him to confess, because he thinks he did kill the woman he walked home from the diplomatic reception last night.
Sarah: I wonder if it was written by the same person who wrote the similar Voyager episode.
Katie: What exactly do we need to discuss? Sounds super straightforward.
- Text exchange with my research team, January 2023
Sometimes, in researching dead girlfriends, I come across an episode of television that is simply so egregiously sexist that it makes me scream. The Stargate SG-1 episode "Collateral Damage" (2006-01-13) is one such episode. (It could also make a good subtitle for this blog, but that's neither here nor there.)
Although it is not part of our main Stargate analysis, therefore, I feel it deserves its own post.
What's so bad about this episode?
It involves watching a woman get repeatedly beaten to death by her lover. In other words, it's Intimate Partner Violence on Instant Replay.
Content Warning: Intimate Partner Violence...lots of it. (But I won't show you any clips.)
I Can See How These Dead Girlfriends Might Seem Unusual: Dr. Daniel Jackson
April 17, 2023
O'Neill: Last year, you died.
Daniel: I'm dead?
O'Neill: Obviously not. You just sort of died. Actually, you…ascended to a higher plane of existence. Last time I saw you, you were helping us fight Anubis.Daniel: Anubis?
O'Neill: Yeah. Kind of an over-the-top, cliché bad guy. Black cloak, oily skin, kind of spooky. Anyway, obviously since then, you've retaken human form, somehow. I — Actually, I can see how this might sound a bit unusual…
Daniel: A bit?!
- "Fallen" (2003-06-13)
Welcome, readers, to the men's division of our Stargate analysis. Stargate takes place in a world where "finding love" ranks higher than "smoking" on the risk factors for a premature death. For this post, I'd like to focus on the women who die in proximity to Dr. Daniel Jackson, the franchise's unluckiest male victim of the Cartwright Curse.