Joss Whedon on strong female characters, again and again

Long ago, I remember discussions of books, films and main characters in groups as well as reading articles about books, films and main characters and was always given the line that if the main character was male, both men and women would see themselves in him. If the character was female only women could see themselves in her. Sounds like some of the deep theological discussions I had with other people too. Someone got rather huffy once when I suggested the Holy Spirit was female and said it had to be male since it was the spirit of Jesus Christ who was male. Then there were long sessions of prooftexting the mandated submissive role of women. I will admit, the very first time I saw Joss Whedon's name, I thought  he was female. When I discovered he was male, I was pleasantly curious and Buffy was part of a growing list of female characters who fueled my imagination.