Angel and women

[palabravampiress]

One thing that really bothers me about Angel is the double standard that he applies in his relationships with women. He is nowhere near perfect, himself, and yet he expects it from the women in his life. He treated Buffy like she was a cross between a precious gift and a child who didn't know her own mind. He treated Cordy like she was a precious gift and then like she was a pariah - when, really, Mr. one-night-stand with Darla didn't have room to talk. He told Nina what to do, too. "I'm not asking." Ugh. Personally, I hated the way Angel treated women.

What does everyone else think? How do Angel fans, Angel/Buffy fans, and Angel/Cordy fans deal with this aspect of his personality? Every time I'd start to like him, he'd go and turn into irritating male chauvinist guy. Because of that, I absolutely hated him in romantic pairings.

[Joyce Summers]

My best answer for that is the fact that as a human, Angel or Liam,wasn't a nice guy at all was he? He was a theif, a wastrel, a pervert and he treated women as simply sex objects. With all his guilt and his soul and aaaall the others things that allowed him to hone his brooding skills he did become a much better person than he was as a human (and obviously as a vampire of course). But in a way, I suppose those original thoughts stay with him so he is still slightly inclined to be a bit chauvinist towards women.
But also I think he has issues dealing with it because he's like 240 years old *and* seen so much horror in his life, having been the cause of most of it, and it made him very dark and deep as a person which makes it sometimes hard to apply himself in a real here-and-now relationship, if you get what I'm saying? I mean even Doyle said that he cuts himself off rom human feeling because he believes he doesn't deserve it.
I think what I'm basically saying is he has the more complicated version of intimacy issues. hehe. Personally, though, I don't think Angel ever acted chauvinistic except when he was leaning back to his Angelus days or had revereted completely. I think he just reminded himself so often of how much younger these women were than him and thats what made him treat them like children

[white avenger]

The real problem with Angel, I believe, isn't how he treats the women in his life as much as how he treats everyone he deals with, from Buffy to Nina, and including Fred, Wes, Connor, Faith...just about everybody he's ever come in contact with. His big excuse has always been that he does what he does "for your own good," making decisions that affect others' lives regardless of what they might think or feel.

[palabravampiress]

The real problem with Angel, I believe, isn't how he treats the women in his life as much as how he treats everyone he deals with, from Buffy to Nina, and including Fred, Wes, Connor, Faith...just about everybody he's ever come in contact with. His big excuse has always been that he does what he does "for your own good," making decisions that affect others' lives regardless of what they might think or feel.

You're right. He doesn't just do that with women. I think it is exaggerated when it comes to women, though. At least the characters on Angel were a little better at rolling their eyes and putting Angel in his place when he tried to pull those stunts.