2. Sexuality
The social issue which caused the most controversy for
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was sexuality and, in particular, homosexuality. The most obvious and significant plot concerned with homosexuality started in season four, when Willow Rosenberg (who had previously been romantically involved with the male characters Oz and, kind of, with Xander) began a romantic relationship with the newly introduced female character Tara Maclay. This eventually led to Willow coming out as gay. This period in Willow's life saw also her dramatically expand her 'magical' powers and, subsequently, 'magic' was frequently used as a metaphor for their developing sexual relationship and for sex in general. For example:
Xander:"Sometimes I think about two women doing a spell... and then I do a spell by myself." Willow coming out as gay created some real controversy in the media, as well as heated controversy and debate amongst fans of the show. Joss Whedon, his peers, and the television networks on which
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was aired received criticism from both sides of the debate; those opposed to gay characters on television saw the plot as an outrage, while some pro-gay viewers were actually upset about how tepid and secretive the relationship was at first. There was also some criticism of the fact that the gay characters were both witches, which some people considered as an invocation of long-standing and very old-fashioned stereotypes. Of course, there was also an insinuation of a previous brief homosexual encounter between Spike and Angel, but that occurred in the spin-off show Angel.
Spike:"Guess I don't have to worry about that, 'cause Angel and me have never been intimate. Except that one..." I don't think the female (or gay) viewing audiences would have minded seeing that!