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Captain Pike's weird comment about "women on the bridge"

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Though the term is now generally considered to be an antiquated relic of the Jim Crow era, at the time, it was considered proper and polite.

By the time TOS went off the air, it was already losing favor. Perhaps that's why Lincoln was written to catch himself and recognize that the word wasn't proper any more.

Kor
 
I understand the real-life context of the line. But it still seems weird given that not a minute before he says it, we see a second woman officer manning one of the stations. So it isn't even like Number One and Colt are the only women on the bridge at that point in time....

Like I said, a poorly-written line, all around.
 
Sounds like a misogynistic pig to me.

Now, just because Pike and Boyce liked to give each other back rubs does not make them misogynists.

Perhaps he's finding it hard to get used to being followed by a woman - yeomen are to see to the captain's needs and be there in case he wants them for something. Pike had gotten used to his former yeoman's habits and vice versa. Always jarring to expect one and see another.

Number One has a different air about her - that is, she's not this young, eager kid. She's a cool, calm, staid person. So she is different.

Wow, Laura, why don't you get your thoughtfulness and smart observations out of here, don't you know this thread is for labeling and name calling, (see quote above yours.)

Also, Jim specifically complained about being assigned a female Yeoman in The Corbomite Maneuver.
 
Despite gaffes like this, Gene really was quite open-minded and liberal for a man of his generation and experiences. If you had ever attended one of my family's get-togethers or cookouts in the 60s or 70s, you would have heard some pretty awful stuff from some of his contemporaries. I'm still cringing.
 
That's what many of the scripts identifying black characters said.

Yeah, didn't we a see an excerpt from "Court Martial" on the BBS a while back specifically denoting Commodore Stone as a Negro before the role was cast?

"Black" seemed like edgy slang in 1967, or slightly vulgar, but some activists were insisting on its use over Negro. Now the community seems to be split over the use of black versus "of color" and African American, if I'm not mistaken. I'm probably behind the times now, but I don't think they've achieved a consensus in the U.S.
 
Despite gaffes like this, Gene really was quite open-minded and liberal for a man of his generation and experiences. If you had ever attended one of my family's get-togethers or cookouts in the 60s or 70s, you would have heard some pretty awful stuff from some of his contemporaries. I'm still cringing.

Yes, it's still cringing.
 
No matter what century, some people in power are just sexist pigs. Take Donald Trump, for example...
 
Having Number One pout because she isn't on the landing party is pretty unenlightened as well.



In The Cage, this is pretty damned true. It's lily white on the Enterprise.

However, remember in Charlie X, the male crewman who slaps the other crewman on the butt who Charlie imitates with Rand later? Black crewman slapping a white crewman on the butt. For 1966 that was pretty integrated of them.
 
Yeah, didn't we a see an excerpt from "Court Martial" on the BBS a while back specifically denoting Commodore Stone as a Negro before the role was cast?

"Black" seemed like edgy slang in 1967, or slightly vulgar, but some activists were insisting on its use over Negro. Now the community seems to be split over the use of black versus "of color" and African American, if I'm not mistaken. I'm probably behind the times now, but I don't think they've achieved a consensus in the U.S.

I lived in the ghetto from my birth through 1965. Negro was more of a 1950s term. In my long-ago youth, it was "colored." Then in the mid-to-late 60s, it became "black" which was used until African-American came in. I'm lazy. I still use black. 1 syllable vs. 7.
 
Maybe Pike treated Number One as different because he had served with her before, or knew her from way back. In which case, Pike was accustomed to serving with her (his use of the familiar term 'Number One' to refer to an XO would seem to bear this out) so he didn't even think about her gender because he was so accustomed to having her there. It was like a "blind spot" to him.

Colt, OTOH, was (probably) a recent transfer to the ship, so Pike was kind of taken aback by her.
 
Maybe Pike treated Number One as different because he had served with her before, or knew her from way back. In which case, Pike was accustomed to serving with her (his use of the familiar term 'Number One' to refer to an XO would seem to bear this out) so he didn't even think about her gender because he was so accustomed to having her there. It was like a "blind spot" to him.

Colt, OTOH, was (probably) a recent transfer to the ship, so Pike was kind of taken aback by her.

But that still doesn't account for the third 'background' female we see in the picture posted in the OP.

'Number One' is not the only female on the bridge, so why make an 'exception' of her?
 
I was thinking of a different one...it was used as the respectable term back then, but has since fallen out of favor. Abraham Lincoln uses a female variant of it in "The Savage Curtain".

It is having a comeback, slightly changed, as "person of color".
 
Pike wasn't used to having a "woman" always underfoot and being overly earnest. She didn't act like a professional officer that didn't draw atention to herself. She got flustered around Pike which obviously annoyed him.

Not all men are into 22 year old girls. Some men, particularly with a measure of seasoning, prefer a woman to a girl.

Maybe Pike could simply have said he wasn't used to having a girl on the bridge because onscreen evidence indicates he doesn't really have an issue with grown women on the bridge.
 
Pike wasn't used to having a "woman" always underfoot and being overly earnest. She didn't act like a professional officer that didn't draw atention to herself. She got flustered around Pike which obviously annoyed him.

Not all men are into 22 year old girls. Some men, particularly with a measure of seasoning, prefer a woman to a girl.

Maybe Pike could simply have said he wasn't used to having a girl on the bridge because onscreen evidence indicates he doesn't really have an issue with grown women on the bridge.

Even if that was it, it would be a questionable leadership style on his part. He should be cultivating the junior person, not treating her like a tribble infestation.
 
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