"Spike' you're covered in sexy wounds". or, is Thea a sick puppy

In My Humble Opinion
1

I thought about starting this in Cafe Society, but decided it belonged here because it isn’t so much a BtVS thread as it is a thread about the psychology of one particular rabid fan of the show, namely me.

I’m a Spike Girl. I admit that freely. Nothiing turns me on quite as much as seeing footage of James Marsters with no shirt on. James Marsters, even with his natural curly brown hair, is hot.

But the character of Spike, that’s a whole nother dynamic. He’s got the struggle for redemption thing going and… well…

I find him most attractive when he’s wounded. The scene in “Intervention” when he’s hanging in chains from the ceiling of Glory’s apartment all beat up and bleeding… yum. Even more so, in the scene with Buffy in the crypt (and was that the sweetest kiss ever exchanged in the whole six going on seven seasons of the show, or what?) There was an S4 episode when Spike got beaten up in Willy’s bar by a bunch of demons because he had been helping the Slayer, and his face was all bruised and his nose was bleeding… yum. And he was fully clothed, even. In “Dead Things”, when Buffy was pounding the shit out of him, basically venting on him… my heart broke watching it, but, again, yum. “Lessons”, when he was shown with his chest all cut up, in “Beneath You”, when he’s burning himself on the cross, yum. And in “Never Leave Me”, when the Harbingers are carving runes in his chest, and then he’s hung over the stone pentagram thingy with his blood dripping down… oh, my Joss…

What is with me? I genarally don’t really enjoy seeing people suffer, even if the people are fictional, and even vampires on TV shows. Do I have a sadistic streak that finds its outlet in watching scenes of Spike suffering? Am I having a hard time reconciling my sexual attraction to a character who, let’s face it, is very sexually attractive, with the knowledge that said character is evil, has killed hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people, and probably ought to be staked by enjoying scenes in which the character is made to suffer? Is it some kind of maternal/pity thing, where my heart just goes out to a creature in pain? What?

OK, this is where the SDMB gets to psychoanalyze Thea Logica.

Have at it, kids.

2

I think Spike brings out the sadistic streak in people. For example, I was never one to read stuff about people being tortured…but there is a whole subset of fanfic that’s all about Spike being tied up and tortured. I liked it so much that I wrote one.

Mmmmmmm, sexy wounds. drool
My favorite was in Tough Love when he’s still bruised from Intervention and he’s hiding with Dawn in the sewers, and he tells Buffy “I’d do it…if it was the right person, I’d do it.”

I think the reason may be that you know he can take it. He’s a supernatural being who probably, like Buffy said, gets off on pain. He heals very quickly, and short of a stake though the heart, he won’t be permanently damaged.
Well, there’s more but I gotta go to class…

3

Thea, I think it has to do with the fact that he is not only physically attractive (hey, I admit it) but, in character, is a very powerful, remorseless killer. We see all the terrible things he does and how tough he is … and then we see him actually beaten and in pain, but he comes back and not only regains his strength, but becomes more human as time goes on because of it.

(run-on sentence? Bah!)

I think you’re identifying with a powerful male presense who nonetheless hurts both physically and emotionally, however he denies it.

4

I have several lady friends who say that guys who’ve been roughed up really get their engines going… even guys who are otherwise completely blah. One good smack in the mush, and they’re in love.

Me, I’m in favor of the ladies doing the roughing up…

5

I was waxing philisophical about Spike’s sexy wounds, and I nearly missed my World Civ class! (Sigh, Spike’s sexy wounds were much, much more interesting than World Civ…)

Anyway, like I was saying, he is a supernatural being who can take the abuse and he can overcome the pain. His sex-buddy beats his face to a pulp, so he drags himself home from the alley, drinks some blood (and whiskey probably), wipes himself off, and goes to her birthday party. Never brings it up again. Right after he was beat by Glory he was helping Buffy with Dawn.
I think I’m attracted to his bruises because it’s just proof that he is, in fact, a survivor, and he’ll come back from it and continue, without complaint.