I imagine more people would talk about the ACC if it didn't cause sports-related confusion.

Yes, but none of them are consistantly called by the same name. I mean, if we were continually calling Xander's lie Xander's Big Lie we would shorten it to XBL (and I think we should because it's much easier to type). Also, since the episode has aired it has been the most talked about, and so needed the shortening.

Edited to say- If you'll notice, I also shortened Attempted Vamping to AV.

But, Heather, there are plenty of well-known events: Angel goes to Hell; the school blows up; Xander lies; Buffy dies. These have all been discussed here and elsewhere for years without acronyms. Spike's attempted rape of Buffy is the only such event to get acronymed, and I think it's because of the reasons I listed above.

All those are shorthand, as is AR.

I get sick of typing "attempted rape" over and over and over again in the course of an argument or discussion.

The big difference I see between the AR and the alley beating is that Spike consented to the beating.

There is, of course, that.

Which, given the number of times I see the beating in the alley used to say "see? even!", just kind of makes me mad.

I am currently having to decide whether to take back a husband who left me and our two small children six months ago for another woman. I consider that betrayal to be a lot worse than a one-off incident of violence or sexual violence.

Heh. I take it from the rest of the context that you haven't experienced the latter, and I pray you never do, because no one should. But, in my experience, being left for another woman doesn't leave you flinching away from a hand getting too close to your face or leave you fighting panic attacks and flashbacks at a sound or smell that reminds you of the incident.

Of course they were never consistent in portraying Spike's character (to put in mildly - see Allysons rift on ME continiutiy and how much sense any of it makes). But I think the attempted rape, was quite consistent. It was Buffys reaction later that seemed out of character. Yeah she was always very forgiving. But there were always lines that if you crossed she would not forgive, or at least not forgive easily. I just can't see her forgiving Spike as easily as she did. She was already partway to forgiving him in the same episode. I can't buy her moving on to taking comfort in his arms, whether or not they had the pre-apocalypse sex or not.

In short I think haveing the AR was a mistake, but not inconsistent with the characters. It was a mistake because to deal with it properly would required more energy, and probably more story bandwidth than they were willing to spare.

I wish they had played it as the fact that the First Evil saw Spike as a threat meant they had to keep him around and that Buffy was very uneasy about it.

In short I think haveing the AR was a mistake, but not inconsistent with the characters. It was a mistake because to deal with it properly would required more energy, and probably more story bandwidth than they were willing to spare.

Gar, that's pretty much where I am with it.

I think it's the adjective. If it had been a rape, people wouldn't call it the R. They'd say stuff like, "Buffy has been hunting down a lot more penis demons since the rape." "Attempted rape" lends itself to abbreviation because the words always have to go together.

I think if they had Spike try to vamp Buffy it would have negated his entire story since he got chipped. The irony of the attempted rape was that it was because of the "progress" that he'd made.

To bring something old up again, Gleebo was criticizing Buffy for her "what am I, Saint Buffy? He's like three feet tall!" attitude. Now, is it completely unreasonable to ask someone to date someone they're not interested in, or is it just asking too much? I could post, "It would be nice if Buffy would invite Anya out for coffee. I know she doesn't really like her, but she's all alone after 'Selfless' and could use the company." That wouldn't be all that controversial. Posting, "Willow should give Fred a chance -- just a mercy date, Fred's been pining after her for so long," I see as the same idea, just asking for a lot more charity from Willow. One is asking to donate blood, the other is asking to donate a kidney.

All the posts that said, "Why should I date someone I'm not interested in?" seemed kind of law-of-the-jungle to me. Some people aren't charming or attractive enough to deserve a date in the natural order of things, but we don't always let harsh reality have its way. So I'd rather have heard, "Wish I was that much of a saint, but giving up Angel to string along Xander is just too much to ask," instead of "XANDER?!? No way!"

(More of a my-stuff post than a BtVS post.)

Funny thing is Noum, and I just thought this. I wonder if Buffy...not sure how to do this in the contxt of the show. If I were Buffy, I might have accepted Xander's invitation to the formal had it not been clear he liked me so much.

What I mean is that I have accepted a date, not out of pity, because using that word would be a grave injustice to the wonderful guy I went with, but because it seemed to be something he'd enjoy even though I'd made it clear we wouldn't be "dating."

So I'm not sure that not accepting a date from someone you're not interested in is the law of the jungle. I'm pretty sure that accepting a date from someone who is hoping it becomes something is.