Plus we have to separate out those that give the impression of sexism from the actual sexism of the writers and casters.
The screenwriters know better than to write scripts (esp. for TV and lower budgets) that will be impossible to cast.
There are simply less females and minorities in the pool of Los Angeles actors than males. Thus the pool contains less good and available females than males.
There are reasons why we see actresses such as Suzie Plakson return (as Selar, K'Ehleyr, Lady Q and Tarah) over and over. Not only is she talented, and extraordinarily tall, but she doesn't complain bitterly about the trials and tribulations of having to get put into all that alien makeup - and can then do the job that is asked of her by the director.
If a screenwriter handed in a script with
lots of major roles for females and minorities, one of the first things likely to happen at the budget meeting is for the quantity of female actors, extras and stunt people to be questioned. Auditioning costs money and time, and what happens if they go through the available pool and none are suitable?
One example from the extended ST franchise: the casting of Bashir's mother in DS9. A script was written with a prominent role for a mature woman of Middle Eastern descent and when casting went to the pool of actresses, then were
no women of the correct age and ethnicity registered with the Screen Actors Guild! They were about to scrap the role completely, when they found Fadwa El Guindi, a female university lecturer and professor of anthropology, who had had public speaking experience. But not a working actress!
Things are changing, and there are lots of out-of-work actors and stunt people, male
and female - but budgets are not inexhaustible, and producers will attempt to ensure they don't have to embark on almost-impossible tasks. (Unless the search itself ends up being good publicity.)
) but if a male Romulan had attempted seduction for the same reasons I'm sure people wouldn't suggest that this was a 'standard military maneuver'...
