So you think the institution started out clean? Even after we saw how the Shadow Men forced Slayerhood on the line?

Was that to me, or to John? I don't think it started out clean at all. I think the mission was good/necessary. I don't think the how of it was ever right. I think the how of it got more and more wrong as time went on.

What if the Slayer was a man, 22, just out of university? The way many of the real secret police forces recruit (and in more recent years, women just as much) or armed forces out of high school, for that matter? I think both the slavery and oppression analogies are there, but I think weighing too much on them disconnects from the text, rather than the subtext, for me.

When did the CoW ever recruit? They drafted, and they drafted a force of one, who had to give up her entire life until death. Even soldiers get R&R. Given what we know of the Cruciamentum, what do you think they did to girls who refused to accept their "sacred birthright"?

What if the Slayer was a man, 22, just out of university? The way many of the real secret police forces recruit (and in more recent years, women just as much) or armed forces out of high school, for that matter?

Cindy's already given half of my answer. The other half is, the Slayer is effectively drafted. She doesn't really have a choice to say yea or nay. If Kendra is typical (and, since Faith and the S7 group apparently had Watchers even as Potentials, I'd say she certainly isn't a freak of Slayerdom), she's effectively brainwashed from childhood to think Slayer fashion.

Armed forces and police forces, at least generally in the U.S. these days, seek volunteers. This goes back some years, but my brother went into the Army when he graduated high school. He and the local recruiter would visit regularly all summer (he had some problems getting in, IIRC, because he was underweight). Recruiter started to express an interest in me as well until I (politely) made it clear that I planned to continue college.

Now, the local economy at that time sucked so hard that my brother's only other real option was unemployment. So in that sense, you might say he didn't have a choice. But that still isn't the same as the Slayer's nonchoice.

Armed forces and police forces, at least generally in the U.S. these days, seek volunteers.

Adult volunteers.

(I still don't think Kendra was typical, except of slayers from her culture and similar cultures. There was too much of a keep it secret--keep it safe attitude about Buffy's identity.)

Armed forces and police forces, at least generally in the U.S. these days, seek volunteers. This goes back some years, but my brother went into the Army when he graduated high school. He and the local recruiter would visit regularly all summer (he had some problems getting in, IIRC, because he was underweight). Recruiter started to express an interest in me as well until I (politely) made it clear that I planned to continue college

That's in the US. Now. Many western countries still have the draft and even yours did until not that long ago, historically speaking.

Seen Band of Brothers? Soldiers in wartime don't get a lot of R&R.

Seen Band of Brothers? Soldiers in wartime don't get a lot of R&R.

Sure, but they're not coerced/guilted into it with no hope of getting out before they die. There is some hope they'll get out alive--not so with the slayer. They're a band of brothers, not one girl in all the world. They're fighting in a cause that is acknowledged to their families, friends and the outside world. They aren't alone.

Right. The difference between a watcher and a slayer is that a watcher may choose his calling, and a slayer may not.

Everything after that is about how the watcher treats the slayer, and whether they regard each other with respect. Which, thankfully for Buffy, in practice is a thing that varies widely among watchers. But it's still a system wide open for abuse and stupidity.

Or was, when Wesley and Giles weren't the only watchers on this earth (to my knowledge).

Right. The difference between a watcher and a slayer is that a watcher may choose his calling, and a slayer may not.

It is an inherited thing with the watchers, isn't it?

Giles tells Buffy his story in Season 1 in a "I didn't have a choice either, I know what you're going through" kinda way....so not sure if they really did have a choice.

He didn't have a choice in the sense that, I don't know, the Prince of Wales doesn't have a choice. I very much doubt the CoW would have kidnapped Giles if he'd decided to become a grocer after all. (Though if you want to do a particularly dark CoW, you could probably make an argument for it.)

Of course, young Watcher-get would've been inculcated with a Sense of Duty.

For that matter, I've always thought Buffy had a choice too, albeit a lousy one. She might well have been in danger from the CoW had she walked away, but she always could have.

My total, non-canonical guess is that the watchers have a bit more choice, because in the instance of any given watcher (until season 7's slaughters, anyhow), any given watcher wasn't the one person in all the world. There wasn't the same sort of guilt. Also, Watchers might disown their children who didn't join in the fight, but I would imagine if there was a reluctant slayer, they would kill her to spawn a new one.