most sexist episode

[urbandk]

I know Star Trek advanced women in important roles and positions of authority. However, I just watched "Shore Leave" last night and must conclude that it contained the most sexist tripe I've ever seen in a Star Trek episode.

I submit:

the episode starts with Kirk getting a back rub from a yeoman. she then advises him to get some rest and he tells her to buzz off.

Martine acts like a fainting flower next to Rodriguez and cavorts with him while on duty on the planet's surface, while Rodriguez pays attention to duty.

Later Rodriguez gets to run to the rescue of Martine in the face of the planes and the fierce tiger. also, wasn't martine the one who just lost her fiance?

Barrows can't help but put on a medieval costume that came out of thin air after her uniform was damaged by don juan.

don juan assaults her and tears her uniform and this is supposed to be the culmination of female fantasy.

Barrows again gets to be the object of male competition with the knight facing off with mccoy.

at the end of the episode, mccoy is basically accompanied by two sex kittens. barrows is upset but subsequently all is forgiven when the same sex kittens go pay attention to sulu and rodriguez.

anyhow, just my two cents on this episode.

 

[Zeta]

I vote Turnabout Intruder as most sexist episode:
"Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women.... "

 

[Hambone]

I'll throw "Lights of Zetar" into the pot. Everyone keeps referring to Lt. Romaine as "the girl". I wonder if Kirk calls his junior officers "boys"?

 

[TheLonelySquire]

I know Star Trek advanced women in important roles and positions of authority. However, I just watched "Shore Leave" last night and must conclude that it contained the most sexist tripe I've ever seen in a Star Trek episode.

I submit:

the episode starts with Kirk getting a back rub from a yeoman. she then advises him to get some rest and he tells her to buzz off.

Martine acts like a fainting flower next to Rodriguez and cavorts with him while on duty on the planet's surface, while Rodriguez pays attention to duty.

Later Rodriguez gets to run to the rescue of Martine in the face of the planes and the fierce tiger. also, wasn't martine the one who just lost her fiance?

Barrows can't help but put on a medieval costume that came out of thin air after her uniform was damaged by don juan.

don juan assaults her and tears her uniform and this is supposed to be the culmination of female fantasy.

Barrows again gets to be the object of male competition with the knight facing off with mccoy.

at the end of the episode, mccoy is basically accompanied by two sex kittens. barrows is upset but subsequently all is forgiven when the same sex kittens go pay attention to sulu and rodriguez.

anyhow, just my two cents on this episode.

I didn't mind it one bit. Better to have lines drawn than to have your first officer attacted to an androgynous alien.

 

[Gary7]

You have to temper this with the era upon which these episodes were made. The 60's was still very sexist towards women, much more so than today. Your description of Shore Leave sounds to me as through the eyes of an early 21st century person. Your points are valid from that perspective, but put yourself back to the late 1960's... TV series productions had women in many more subservient positions.

Now, if you're talking relative to other Star Trek episodes, I'd agree that Shore Leave was probably the most prominent. I wouldn't say Turnabout has much chance for competition... it's one line we hear that is sexist. And Dr. Lester's personification in Kirk is complicated, very difficult to perceive what was Shatner's sexist interpretations or just the neurotic personality of Lester coming through. Remember, Lester's line saying "your world of starship captains doesn't admit women" is her perspective. There may very well be a few female captains in Starfleet, albeit a minority, but Lester may have not been admitted for other reasons and took it as sexual discrimination.

I too remember that line from Zetar... I'd have expected him to say "the woman", not "the girl"... but then, we don't know her age. Maybe she was quite a bit younger than we thought. The acceptable references for "girl" and "woman" based on age were different back then.


Otherwise, it's really amazing to see just how far ahead Star Trek was in promoting the equality of women. It's all too easy to take it in stride, coming from our 21st century society. But when thinking of how unbalanced things were in the 60's, it's really VERY impressive what Roddenberry and his production staff achieved.

 

[urbandk]

I didn't mind it one bit. Better to have lines drawn than to have your first officer attacted to an androgynous alien.

Mutual respect and professionalism would dictate treatment of crewmembers as equals and not stewardesses or sex objects.

Even from a socially conservative view of morality, belittling depictions of women should be at least as disturbing as love of an androgynous alien (who was more female than male besides).

With respect to your second point, I support bisexual or homosexual relations, incidentally, but that really has nothing to do with sexism in the sense I was referring to.

 

[urbandk]

Otherwise, it's really amazing to see just how far ahead Star Trek was in promoting the equality of women. It's all too easy to take it in stride, coming from our 21st century society. But when thinking of how unbalanced things were in the 60's, it's really VERY impressive what Roddenberry and his production staff achieved.

Agreed, it was just a bit startling to see so much crammed into one episode. It was definitely a transitional period in gender roles, and as I mentioned, in many respects Star Trek advanced feminism and gender equality. I recall Majel Barrett in "The Cage," for example.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

I didn't mind it one bit. Better to have lines drawn than to have your first officer attacted to an androgynous alien.

Mutual respect and professionalism would dictate treatment of crewmembers as equals and not stewardesses or sex objects.

Even from a socially conservative view of morality, belittling depictions of women should be at least as disturbing as love of an androgynous alien (who was more female than male besides).

With respect to your second point, I support bisexual or homosexual relations, incidentally, but that really has nothing to do with sexism in the sense I was referring to.

If Angela Martine were to pick up the check once in awhile, maybe this sort of thing wouldn't happen!

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Otherwise, it's really amazing to see just how far ahead Star Trek was in promoting the equality of women. It's all too easy to take it in stride, coming from our 21st century society. But when thinking of how unbalanced things were in the 60's, it's really VERY impressive what Roddenberry and his production staff achieved.

Agreed, it was just a bit startling to see so much crammed into one episode. It was definitely a transitional period in gender roles, and as I mentioned, in many respects Star Trek advanced feminism and gender equality. I recall Majel Barrett in "The Cage," for example.

"The Women!"

 

[urbandk]

"The Women!"

someone had to quote it!

 

[SiorX]

Dunno about the worst, because it's been years since I watched many eps of ToS, but I remember Wolf in the Fold (the Jack the Ripper ep) as having some spectacularly dodgy pseudo-psychology. McCoy outfails Freud with his suggestion that an accident caused by a female crewmen might have subconsciously driven Scotty to murder women. (Because obviously in Roddenbury's eutopic future, the defining feature of said crewmember is still going to be her gender.) It's an interesting episode though, because it's trying to get one thinking and talking about the issue.

Turnabout Intruder is also an interesting one. Maybe it's cause I'm looking back at it from the twenty-first century here, but I actually find that one more complex. I don't think when you look at it now you can really take Kirk's last line (paraphrasing, but something like; "Her life could have been as fulfilling as any woman's. If only. If only...") as a simple lament for her breaching gender roles. I think now the first response to that might be about the implied difference between a man's life and a woman's life. And the 'if only' is a pretty good line to end the episode on even from a feminist perspective.

A lot of TOS gets props for trying though, in my opinion. There's a conscious effort to at least raise the question of equality in a number of episodes, even if the background cultural influence still leads to copious amounts of WTF. That's more than most shows now are managing.

Of course, there's still boatloads of paint-by-numbers sexism going on in the background in most episodes.

 

[JustKate]

Dunno about the worst, because it's been years since I watched many eps of ToS, but I remember Wolf in the Fold (the Jack the Ripper ep) as having some spectacularly dodgy pseudo-psychology. McCoy outfails Freud with his suggestion that an accident caused by a female crewmen might have subconsciously driven Scotty to murder women. (Because obviously in Roddenbury's eutopic future, the defining feature of said crewmember is still going to be her gender.) It's an interesting episode though, because it's trying to get one thinking and talking about the issue.

That's one I hadn't thought about, but it's an interesting choice because, if you recall, the Evil Entity of the Day preyed on women because (according to Spock) they are "more easily and deeply terrified than men." I may not have that quote 100 percent right, but it's pretty close.

Turnabout Intruder is a bit troubling, but I do like the questions it raises, so I have convinced myself that it's this particular woman who has been barred from being a Starfleet captain, not all women. It's my way of enjoying the episode without wanting to throw a Diet Pepsi at the TV.

 

[QuasarVM]

I'd have to say Turnabout Intruder.

Shore Leave? Are you kiddin ME?

That one was HOT -- Tonya Barrows...YUM!!!

Oh, wait...I'm being sexist.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

Who Mourns for Adonais - Skimpy costume, three way love thing, woman as property.

Space Seed - Funky female submission thing going on, woman as property again.

 

[kissthestar]

It's hard to pick. Many eps of TOS had sexism because it was the times...

 

[Praetor]

'Shore Leave' is, in retrospect, pretty sexist.

I vote Turnabout Intruder as most sexist episode:
"Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women.... "

There's an easy way to retcon that...

I'll throw "Lights of Zetar" into the pot. Everyone keeps referring to Lt. Romaine as "the girl". I wonder if Kirk calls his junior officers "boys"?

I always thought it was in reference to her as Scotty's 'girl.' Not much better, but still.

Dunno about the worst, because it's been years since I watched many eps of ToS, but I remember Wolf in the Fold (the Jack the Ripper ep) as having some spectacularly dodgy pseudo-psychology. McCoy outfails Freud with his suggestion that an accident caused by a female crewmen might have subconsciously driven Scotty to murder women. (Because obviously in Roddenbury's eutopic future, the defining feature of said crewmember is still going to be her gender.) It's an interesting episode though, because it's trying to get one thinking and talking about the issue.

That's one I hadn't thought about, but it's an interesting choice because, if you recall, the Evil Entity of the Day preyed on women because (according to Spock) they are "more easily and deeply terrified than men." I may not have that quote 100 percent right, but it's pretty close.

Yeah, having just watched 'Wolf in the Fold,' I can honestly say I find it to be the worst offender, all around. Still, the voice of Piglet as Redjac is pretty funny and entertaining.

Turnabout Intruder is a bit troubling, but I do like the questions it raises, so I have convinced myself that it's this particular woman who has been barred from being a Starfleet captain, not all women. It's my way of enjoying the episode without wanting to throw a Diet Pepsi at the TV.

I'm rather convinced that instead of being excluded from Starfleet or starship command, Lester was bitter that she couldn't have a relationship with Kirk because he was dedicated to Starfleet and starship command, and in a bit of psychological switchery, became fixated on living Kirk's life as a means of proving her own self-worth against Kirk's and showing him up.

The intention may have been sexist, but as you say, it presents some intriguing psychological concepts and is overall entertaining.

Oh yes, and, once again for emphasis:

[highlight]"THE WOMEN!!!"[/highlight]

 

[Plum]

I<SNIP!>

Ever watch Mad Men? That show is set in the early 60s, but even during Treks run ... women were pretty much considered children.

I love the Twilight Zone, a brilliant show. But even as incredibly intelligent and insightful as it is, it still has an astonishing parade of 'Stepford Wives'.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Tough to beat "Turnabout Intruder," no matter what kind of "retconning" (or, in English, "excuse making") one engages in.

"Metamorphosis" would be a contender, though. Everything about its characterization of women and assumptions about gender roles is shallow and hollow as a drum - well, except for Cochrane's moment of revulsion at Kirk and Spock's sexual broadmindness. That's a plausible and well-observed character touch.

 

[QuasarVM]

Tough to beat "Turnabout Intruder," no matter what kind of "retconning" (or, in English, "excuse making") one engages in.

"Metamorphosis" would be a contender, though. Everything about its characterization of women and assumptions about gender roles is shallow and hollow as a drum - well, except for Cochrane's moment of revulsion at Kirk and Spock's sexual broadmindness. That's a plausible and well-observed character touch.

Agreed on all points, Dennis!

 

[Michael]

Just ask Michelle Erica Green. She will know.

No, just kidding, of course. Personally I always considered Turnabout Intruder to be pretty sexist. I can't think of any good reason why a character would say something like that, other than 'The sixties were sexist'.