text: Normally I like the entire "female power" thing but frankly the "this is wrong" or "evil" part of that storyline is really old.  In an era where girls do try out for and get placed on "boys" teams, these issues seem outdated.  Likewise rules were recently changed in Indiana (not even slightly a liberal state) that says any pageant receiving state funds cannot discriminate on the basis of sex or gender.  I know, this book is from 1999, but we are living in a conservative backlash politically and this is still happening, changes are happening.  Overall I felt the book had a very negative view of the gender roles and did not do anything to suggest they should be different.  Even the disempowered girl who creates the initial problems with her "magic" is empowered through a pageant and her cooking.  How much more gender role enforcement can we have?  Really, with a strong female lead, shouldn't a Buffy universe story do better than this?  In general the feel of the relationships and lingo between the main characters was fine but not particularly outstanding
  