"First Contact" - The rape of Riker

[at Quark's]

Not going to deny that there might have been a bit of coercion or exploitation of Riker going on in this episode, but also, not having seen the episode in a long time, I don't recall Riker especially seeming to have a problem with it, which is perhaps the most important aspect to consider?

But he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it, either. Here's the dialog:

RIKER: Now, will you help me?
LANEL: If you make love to me.
RIKER: What?
LANEL: I've always wanted to make love with an alien.
RIKER: Listen, Miss
LANEL: Lanel.
RIKER: Lanel, I really have to get going. All the other aliens are waiting for me.
LANEL: Oh, it's not so much to ask, and then I'll help you escape.
RIKER: It's not that easy. There are differences in the way that my people make love.
LANEL: I can't wait to learn.
(she takes of her spectacles)
RIKER: But it's
LANEL: It's your only way out of here, my alien.

Also, when he tells her 'next time I'm in the system I'll call you' on her question if they'll ever meet again, it's clear from his facial expression he's just deflecting giving a real answer.

 

[thribs]

Oh I thought you were talking about the movie. I don’t remember any rape scene there

 

[Jedi Marso]

Oh I thought you were talking about the movie. I don’t remember any rape scene there

Well, there is the Borg Queen and Data. That's a little rapey. And the whole assimilation thing, period. Violated by Borg nanoprobes!

 

[Oddish]

As violation goes, assimilation makes rape look like a pinch on the cheek. But it's also completely asexual.

 

[fireproof78]

I feel a little gross defending it (maybe I should rewatch it) but a couple thoughts that come to mind. One, Lilith didn’t seem like a bad person. If Riker made a case for why this was really problematic for him, she might have let her kinky dream go and just helped him. Played for laughs, Riker felt it would just, uh, “be faster” to indulge her fantasy and move on. Two, in a truly egalitarian future, would it have made a difference if the sexes were reversed? Contextually, the show aired in our society in 1991, not in a future egalitarian utopia. But if it were say Ro and a male nurse, well, I can picture her annoyed but getting to point b. The male nurse calling out, “Can I give you my number?” as she disappears around the corridor.

I recall that being a minor plot in a "Everybody Loves Raymond Episode" or something to that effect.

But he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it, either. Here's the dialog:

RIKER: Now, will you help me?
LANEL: If you make love to me.
RIKER: What?
LANEL: I've always wanted to make love with an alien.
RIKER: Listen, Miss
LANEL: Lanel.
RIKER: Lanel, I really have to get going. All the other aliens are waiting for me.
LANEL: Oh, it's not so much to ask, and then I'll help you escape.
RIKER: It's not that easy. There are differences in the way that my people make love.
LANEL: I can't wait to learn.
(she takes of her spectacles)
RIKER: But it's
LANEL: It's your only way out of here, my alien.

Also, when he tells her 'next time I'm in the system I'll call you' on her question if they'll ever meet again, it's clear from his facial expression he's just deflecting giving a real answer.

Oof, that's way worse than I remember. Even the Star Trek Encyclopedia dances around it saying Riker "did her a favor. We won't comment on the favor due to the personal nature of it." Or something like that.

 

[Arpy]

^ cut to Titan’s first mission being to the Malcorian System — {{forehead smack}} d’oh! “Ensign Jones, put in a call to this number. I’ll take it in my read room...”

 

[jaime]

Riker was on the receiving end of Violating Weird Alien Shit about as often as Troi I suspect. (There’s an argument to be made about the whole Odan/Crusher thing as well)
The relative morality of it all and it’s place in the storytelling is an interesting one. We can remember it’s a story, and point to classical myth and the influence on our modern fables.
One thing of a positive note worth mentioning is how well Sirtis and Frakes both absolutely *sold* these stories, Man Of The People and Frame Of Mind being two standout episodes where Riker and Troi are put through the absolute ringer.
Basically it’s them and the O’Briens particularly that should be in a support group, which I say flippantly and humorously, but at the same time it’s worth looking at what many of the characters go through, and then maybe looking at it through all sorts of analytical lenses.

 

[Ragitsu]

In "Violations", Picard unambiguously states that the crimes are "rape".

 

[dupersuper]

^ cut to Titan’s first mission being to the Malcorian System — {{forehead smack}} d’oh! “Ensign Jones, put in a call to this number. I’ll take it in my read room...”

She pops up on his screen with an oddly smooth foreheaded teenager...

In "Violations", Picard unambiguously states that the crimes are "rape".

Did Picard say it as well? I remember that one of the aliens did.

 

[Ragitsu]

Did Picard say it as well? I remember that one of the aliens did.

I stand corrected; Picard didn't mention that word...though he did deliver a speech right at the end of the episode.

 

[Jedi Marso]

My favorite scene in Violations is when Worf just effortlessly bitch-slaps the rapist unconscious with a look of utter disdain on his face. One-shotted him like the little punk he was.

 

[Greystorm]

Star Trek walted around some very questionable things. I feel like, at times, it is too much a product of the day and age the movies/shows were created in and I wonder how the writers NEVER considered that these people are from a future idealistic world and so perhapst they might want to imagine what a future idealistic world would behave like? Would sexism be rampant? Would it be appropriate for questionable rape or rape like scenes to be played off like humor?

The bright side is that over time handling of these things has improed dramatically. But in the 90s, frankly, we were still in some dark age thinking. Not as bad as the Actual Dark Ages, but not as mindful as we are now.

 

[Arpy]

The Cage/Menagerie were darker. Feral Orions were being sold into sexual slavery on presumably an Earth/Federation colony world, and Pike was being tempted with it as a career option. Makes you imagine the galaxy as a far wilder place than what we’ve come to know.

 

[Mrs. Silvercrest]

I always wondered if the woman had gotten pregnant what would the child have been like? Maybe she would go into hiding or something?

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

The bright side is that over time handling of these things has improed dramatically. But in the 90s, frankly, we were still in some dark age thinking. Not as bad as the Actual Dark Ages, but not as mindful as we are now.

Incorrect. Orville season 1 featured a date-rape scene that was purely for laughs.

 

[Ragitsu]

Then, there's the subject of prison rape (which is also played for laughs).

 

[dupersuper]

The Cage/Menagerie were darker. Feral Orions were being sold into sexual slavery on presumably an Earth/Federation colony world,

What in the world makes you think the imaginary slave trading world was a Federation world????????

 

[Arpy]

What in the world makes you think the imaginary slave trading world was a Federation world????????

It was one of the Rigels wasn't it? Federation system. Plus they were humans in the illusion with him getting off to the dance, to the possibilities after she finished, no aliens around. And what was Boyce's question to him about leaving the service to set up shop there? Yeah, the impression I got in "The Cage" was that space was very wild indeed.

 

[dupersuper]

It was one of the Rigels wasn't it? Federation system. Plus they were humans in the illusion with him getting off to the dance, to the possibilities after she finished, no aliens around. And what was Boyce's question to him about leaving the service to set up shop there? Yeah, the impression I got in "The Cage" was that space was very wild indeed.

I didn't remember it being named, and there are plenty of human looking aliens and humans who have left the Federation in Trek.

 

[Arpy]

I didn't remember it being named, and there are plenty of human looking aliens and humans who have left the Federation in Trek.

I think it was just early enough the Trek we know hadn't been defined yet. Space had room for every gothic horror and lurid fantasy you could imagine. And they were playing to our baser instincts.