» What Are Little Girls Made Of?: Sexism in Trek Options

[Anabanana]

venom-spewing aliens in mini-skirts and go-go boots

Hee! Thanks for the great visual, Kimberlee! Of course I am now imagining real aliens, like those on The Simpsons, not Forehead-Of-The-Week aliens.

I'm hoping they'll show Mackenzie leading MACOs that were left behind on this week's (today's... squeeeee!) finale. Wish they had been more explicit though. They usually don't leave obvious dangling threads like Hayes' last words without picking it up eventually. (It's the unintentional danglers we have to watch out for.)

ETA: Uh... Guess not. :-P

This post has been edited by Anabanana: May 27, 2004 @ 5:50 pm.

[SunlessNick]

Of course the ONLY female Uh-Oh on this rescue team HAS to get injured and CARRIED back through the transporter by a male Uh-Oh. Pigs.  -  Keckler,[b] in her recap

Sigh.

In addition to a host of such strong feminine characters on other sci-fi shows (Xena, Buffy, Aeryn, Ivanova, Zoe, Max) I offer two Trek words: Jadzia Dax.  -  Gilmel

I have to add Samantha Carter to that litany.

One event that always leaves me annoyed is this ....

Risan Restaurant. Ravcula and Hoshi continue with their language lessons. After hearing Ravcula mangle a few more words in his language, Hoshi admits that her tongue is beaten. Ravcula tries to encourage her, telling her she's only been trying for one day, but the waiter brings over a plate of Exposition so Hoshi can point out that Ravcula picked up English in one day.  -  again, Keckler, in a recap

It bothers me that they had to have Hoshi's date blow in and beat her at her specialty - as opposed to, say, both trying out all the languages they know but neither can find one the other can't pronounce - it doesn't seem like much comapared to the series' other triumphs I guess, but. Why, when she's using her gift for her fun - and in a scene that's all about her - does she have to be defeated at it?

Just gets on my nerves.

Edited to add: Sorry, that was rather disjointed. But that's me right now.

This post has been edited by SunlessNick: Jul 3, 2004 @ 7:09 pm.

[Mr Sneer]

I have to add Samantha Carter to that litany.

Carter's just a whiny girl hankering after her C.O. these days. Even T'Pol at her CRACK WHORE worst is better than Carter.

[Frank James]

Step the hell back from Carter, Mr Sneer; them's fightin' words!

[Jacob]

Topic, guys.

[RealChic1999]

I am glad I found this thread.

In TNG...well, you know. Vase Club.

Actually, there was one episode where Dr. Crusher was on administrative leave (for insubordination) and was trying to save a planet from the sun (or something...my memory is foggy on that episode), and an alien was trying to attack her in the shuttle and keep her from doing her "mission." She was doing dropkicks and roundoffs and whatnot...that I can remember. So out of character compared to the Robin Hood episode.

I saw "The Naked Time" last night and am deeply disappointed about the blatant sexism of Old Trek. Those female uniforms were so damn short that they should've been shirts instead! Yeoman Rand had to cry to Spock like a baby because a random crewmember (affected by the flu) was flirting with her and was blocking her way? Uhura being taken captive by Sulu (also affected by the flu) and running and hiding when she got out of his clutches and he tried to attack everyone with a fencing sword? Come on now.

I wonder how Old Trek would've turned out if Majel Barrett's Number 1 character was on past the pilot. She talked tough, had a cold demeanor, wore pants and carried a phaser! (I barely remember females on away teams back then carrying phasers.) The only other character I remember who carried a phaser and did judo was Chekhov's girlfriend on "The Apple." Not enough females who could kick butt on the original series.

[RiverThames]

Well, to be fair to Uhura, running clear of the crazy guy with the sword is probably a wise idea.

[RealChic1999]

But the men, who were also unarmed, ran in to save the day. If Uhura had a phaser (or hell, a sword herself) that would've made my day. It would've been cool if she ran to get either of those to take care of Sulu. But nope...she ran and hid.

Oh...I forgot to mention the random yellowshirt female (yes, female) on "Charlie." I was surprised to see a female in a Starfleet uniform with a shirt and pants. Unfortunately she was randomly made old because of Charlie's (a kid who was abandoned on a planet and given powers by the aliens of that planet so he could take care of himself) rage.

This post has been edited by RealChic1999: Apr 19, 2006 @ 11:02 am.

[nqllisi]

I know this is redundant because I've made the point myself, but the short skirt thing was actually a feminist statement in a way- a sort of "look at me, I can be as sexy as I want to be, no school-marm skirts for me!". I've heard Nichelle Nichols express it in just that way in interviews. In fact, if you watch her closely, you can catch her hitching the skirt up higher while she's sitting in the background of some scenes on the bridge.

It was a different era, I guess is my point. Also, all of the female crew wore the tiny skirts, so they weren't the same as the catsuits for T'Pol and Seven, which were exclusive to the women who were clearly meant to be the sexpot eye-candy.

[Santanico]

Also, all of the female crew wore the tiny skirts, so they weren't the same as the catsuits for T'Pol and Seven, which were exclusive to the women who were clearly meant to be the sexpot eye-candy.

But all the women on TOS were meant to be the sexpot eye-candy.

[MightyThor]

But all the women on TOS were meant to be the sexpot eye-candy.

Not in the original vision.

I tend to go easier on TOS, but I don't think Bermaga or anyone else can legitimately defend sexism in the newer series "because hey, we're better than TOS." 20, 30, 40 years after TOS, that's no kind of excuse.

[TravelMug]

I agree with MightyThor. TOS, whatever you want to say about it, was progressive for its time and place -- late '60s network television. The show put a black woman, and Asian man and a Russian man on the bridge of a starship; the show had television's first interracial kiss; the show did attempt to deal with sexism, however clumsily (i.e. the whole thing with Janice Lester).

Modern Trek has no excuse for the kind of bullshit we saw on Enterprise. Especially after DS9 demonstrated what modern Trek can do.

[Dahak]

I read on Moore's BSG blog that there was some debate whether to call superior female officers Sir or Maam. Now I don't mind either way. But the sexist part is that this issue didn't come up until the fourth season. For 3 years no woman was in charge. Now that is a clear cut example that TNG was pretty damned sexist.

[RealChic1999]

I've heard Nichelle Nichols express it in just that way in interviews. In fact, if you watch her closely, you can catch her hitching the skirt up higher while she's sitting in the background of some scenes on the bridge.

I never noticed the hitching...but I did notice the constant "red bloomers" shots. I thought her skirt was already short and automatically revealing panties. Other females skirts were hip-length (too damn short!). I know this was the "swingin' 60s" and all, but the women didn't need to be parading around in short skirts! Ridiculous.

[RiverThames]

I read on Moore's BSG blog that there was some debate whether to call superior female officers Sir or Maam. Now I don't mind either way. But the sexist part is that this issue didn't come up until the fourth season. For 3 years no woman was in charge. Now that is a clear cut example that TNG was pretty damned sexist.

Actually, one of the three captains Picard met at the beginning of Season 1's "Conspiracy" was a woman. And cited as the youngest officer in SF's history to make captain.