Does Beverly Crusher Rape William Riker in "The Host?"

[sonak]

How do we know that Will and Beverly never had some descreet sex before, i won't tell Jean Luc if you wont tell Deanna.. LOL Ya, why would Will mind? it's not like he ever turns down anyone for sex. In Conundrum he sleeps with Ro even though he could not remember anything about who she was to him. Hooking up with the chick that used him to get the 'game' on the Enterprise, also the farmers (do you not like girls will..) daughter in season 2, falling in love with a holodeck Minuete, etc..kinda tells you where his limits (or lack there of) are. Not even going talk about will and his choices in 'The Outcast' LOL

This is precariously close to blaming the victim -- happens frequently in rape cases, where the defense uses the victim's prior history try to prove that it wasn't really rape.

That said, I'm not convinced that what Crusher did should be considered rape. I just watched the episode, and it was Riker/Odan who kept wanting to touch her, who was pretty much seducing her. To me, the problem with her actions was that she was his physician, and a sexual relationship between doctor and patient is unethical, no matter how consensual.

The question that nobody is asking: Did Odon take advantage of William Riker? Shouldn't he have respected Riker's own relationships/friendships and stayed away from romance with Crusher while he was in Riker's body?

a clear yes to the second question but it doesn't matter if Odan in Will's body "seduced" her, because it WASN'T Riker himself doing the seducing. It's like having sex with someone who's unconscious.

 

[Desertway]

Would this even be a question if the roles were reversed, a male crew member having sex with a female crew member acting as temporary (unconscious) host?

 

[GalaxyX]

Would this even be a question if the roles were reversed, a male crew member having sex with a female crew member acting as temporary (unconscious) host?

Nope, hence the double standard.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

I lol'd so hard when I saw this topic title

 

[The Dominion]

Riker also got raped on First Contact. (episode) And given his reputation for sleeping around, he was probably asking for it.

 

[Shayes904]

OK, so DS9 tweaked the Trill symbiont/host relationship to make it less "the slug controls the host" and more of a shared relationship.

Yet in TNG's "the host," "Odan" is pretty much "the slug." And so when Odan is temporarily in Riker's body, he is fully in control and making the decisions, not Will Riker, who is basically gone in terms of conscious control.


Knowing this, Dr. Crusher proceeds to have sex with "Odan" while he is in control of Riker's body. I assume that under normal circumstances she and Will wouldn't be having sex and he also isn't in a position to consent here.


So... how is this not just Beverly taking advantage and sexually exploiting Riker? Especially when she knows it'll only be a few days until Odan gets a new body to take control of!

She draws the line at being with Odan when it's in a female body but is okay with having sex with him while he's in the body of a long-time friend?




very weird.

If Riker is okay with having a slug implanted in his body and losing all conscious control, but is not okay with the possibility of sex with Dr. Crusher, then I think he might need some actual professional time with Counselor Troi. The slug which he agreed to seems like more of an invasion than the sex (which he did not explicitly agree to), but this may be because we are talking about Will Riker. He has a bit of a reputation with women. While he may have turned away some women, I don’t feel that he would completely rule out Beverly Crusher, so long as his freedom were preserved. I don’t think Riker takes the act of sex as seriously as many 21st century natives do (our persoective). In my view, the overall sexual environment in the 24th century is quite liberal in the Next Generation universe, in that people do not tend to own each other like they once did. Even future definitions of marriage seem variable.

I’m not sure Riker rules out sex with anyone completely, unless they are of no interest to him. I don’t think Dr. Crusher would fall into the no interest category. Will seems to struggle to control himself in situations where women are throwing themselves at him...poor guy.

From the observers perspective, I can see how this might look like rape. I can see how this might be considered a violation of ethics from Dr. Crusher’s position. However, the relationships between the members of the Enterprise are complex since each crewmember fulfills so many roles for other crewmembers. Crusher may be a doctor, but she is also a friend, which is complicated by two people occupying the same body. In confusing situations, confusing things tend to happen.

Crusher describes Riker as a sort of brother at one point. Assuming this is her true feeling, it would seem that sexual morality in the 24th century is quite different indeed.

I think they tried to do too much in this episode. There was not enough time to develop all the ideas at work.
At the end of the episode I had the same feeling you get when you step out of a car after a wreck. I was happy everyone was okay, but I was not completely sure I understood all the details of what had happened, or more so, why they had happened.

 

[Vger23]

Yes, she raped him.

And Geordi was a creepy sexual predator who violates recreated holodeck women

And Riker was a misogynistic manwhore

etc etc etc...

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Resurrecting a six year old thread is not a good idea. Please check out the board rules, there’s a link above in a pinned thread.
Closed.