Open thread to anyone writing for Trek in any incarnation

[JRoss]

So, this may seem a bit ironic considering that I started a thread in defense of Starfleet from a real-world perspective, but I do have another issue to raise.

Specifically, the term "pink skin" being used to describe humans. I've come across it in books and from the Andorians in the series. I'm mostly caucasian, but I wouldn't say that I have pink skin. I'd also say that the vast majority of humans do not have pink skin.

Strictly speaking, every human being is a shade of brown, from Northern Europeans considered pale to a very dark person of Black African ancestry, every skin cell besides those of persons suffering from albinism contains brown melanin.

I'd suggest that any future references to humans in general, when considering skin color simply say brown. But that's just my .02.

 

[BillJ]

So, this may seem a bit ironic considering that I started a thread in defense of Starfleet from a real-world perspective, but I do have another issue to raise.

Specifically, the term "pink skin" being used to describe humans. I've come across it in books and from the Andorians in the series. I'm mostly caucasian, but I wouldn't say that I have pink skin. I'd also say that the vast majority of humans do not have pink skin.

Strictly speaking, every human being is a shade of brown, from Northern Europeans considered pale to a very dark person of Black African ancestry, every skin cell besides those of persons suffering from albinism contains brown melanin.

I'd suggest that any future references to humans in general, when considering skin color simply say brown. But that's just my .02.

Perhaps Andorians interpret the color spectrum differently... perhaps it's just the Universal Translator not correctly translating the Andorian language.

 

[JRoss]

Oh, yeah. That could be, actually.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

As far as I've noticed, it's only the Andorians calling humans "pink skins". I think of it as their quirk, like Ferengis pronouncing human weirdly (hew-mon). Besides, compared to the blue Andorians, so-called caucasian humans are rather pink.

 

[Anji]

The only rationalization I have for that comment is our blood is red, therefore our skin has a pinkish tone to it...kinda like Vulcans have blue blood therefore they are supposed to have a bluish tone to their skin.

 

[Arpy]

It was the ENT writers trying to make the somewhat silly Andorians look tougher. By having Andorian characters call humans a color that we in the real world circa 2011 still have hang-ups about, it distracted from the Andorian make-up's silliness. Basically, they called us gay so we wouldn't notice they're blue and have antennae like old B-movie aliens. Note that when they were first reintroduced, they had mottled red-blue skin and more platinum blond hair, inspired by TMP. That is before fans complained, wanting the original look back.

I think that's also the reason ENT presented them as being pissed-off all the time and why had darker "cooler" outfits unlike anything we saw in TOS - as distraction..."the best defense is a good offense."

I found it strange to begin with given that the idea that pink isn't manly is slowly going away today, let alone by 22nd century, let alone that it's shared by extraterrestrials!

Given that humans aren't pink anyway only makes it all more idiotic. ...Although, O'Brien's face could get pretty pink when he was embarrassed.

 

[T'Girl]

I too think it has to do with how the Andorian vision works. Given their natural environment, where their species original came from, pink skin might indicate that in addition to the usual spectrum that Humans can see, Andorians also see thermal radiation.

Perhaps to a Andorians, Vulcans are "red skins," and a species with a truly high body temperature
would be "white skins."

 

[Temis the Vorta]

What are you pink skins arguing about now?!?

Is there something about being pink that makes you argumentative?

 

[nightwind1]

The only rationalization I have for that comment is our blood is red, therefore our skin has a pinkish tone to it...kinda like Vulcans have blue blood therefore they are supposed to have a bluish tone to their skin.

Or green (unless you meant Andorian when you wrote Vulcans).

 

[Myasishchev]

I too think it has to do with how the Andorian vision works. Given their natural environment, where their species original came from, pink skin might indicate that in addition to the usual spectrum that Humans can see, Andorians also see thermal radiation.

Perhaps to a Andorians, Vulcans are "red skins," and a species with a truly high body temperature
would be "white skins."

I wonder how difficult it would be for an endotherm to evolve IR vision without blinding itself with its own radiation.

Anyway, I figured they just saw white people first, and coined the phrase before they realized how varied we were in tone, or coined it without caring, in the same manner that Arabs and Indians referred to white folks as Farangi even though most of them weren't actually Franks.

It cuts the other way, too: you'd likely get humans talking about Andorians as "blue skinned," when the trait is not shared by the entire population.

 

[Cicero]

^ The Tellarite ambassador did call them "those blue devils."

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Open thread to anyone writing for Trek

So, this may seem a bit ironic considering that I started a thread in defense of Starfleet from a real-world perspective, but I do have another issue to raise.

Specifically, the term "pink skin" being used to describe humans. I've come across it in books and from the Andorians in the series. I'm mostly caucasian, but I wouldn't say that I have pink skin. I'd also say that the vast majority of humans do not have pink skin.

Strictly speaking, every human being is a shade of brown, from Northern Europeans considered pale to a very dark person of Black African ancestry, every skin cell besides those of persons suffering from albinism contains brown melanin.

I'd suggest that any future references to humans in general, when considering skin color simply say brown. But that's just my .02.

Are you serious? Do you want humans to start calling black people "brown" too?

 

[JRoss]

No, I mean when writing from the perspective of aliens. Bakula is pink-skinned, Trineer is pink-skinned, but Mayweather is not pink-skinned. I'm saying that every human would likely look some shade of brown, rather than pink. Imagine how a black fan might feel, having all humans referred to by a shade that only appears in members of another race?

Also, a lot of people use "brown" for black, including Avery Brooks. I don't, because I see all people as brown, and thus using brown isn't useful.

 

[goofy]

By the Dominion War, I'm pretty sure there's few Andorians whom address their colleagues as 'pink skins', I'd allow it in ENT-era fics or maybe TOS but not beyond late TOS / early TMP.

 

[Myasishchev]

^ The Tellarite ambassador did call them "those blue devils."

Yep.

Plus, if you go by the novelverse, the entire Federation denigrates Andorians by refusing to use any sort of fitting pronouns when referring to them. "Oh, they have four genders? I'm sure 'he' and 'she' will work just fine."

Imagine how a black fan might feel, having all humans referred to by a shade that only appears in members of another race?

Without defending the general thoughtlessness with which characterizes any Berman and Braga joint, in this case it could sort of work. I mean, the Andorians are supposed to be these horrible, racist pricks, aren't they? Even Shran is, like, only an agreeable racist. He's basically the Euro-American hero in a 1930s serial that refers ignorantly to the "savages" in some RotW village, and he's basically a pretty decent guy but his mores offend us in these more enlightened times. In that regard, it would have been great to have a scene with Mayweather where he told him "And quit calling us fucking pink-skins." But that would have required Mayweather to have a line, and thus entitled to more than extra pay.

 

[dooky]

Re: Open thread to anyone writing for Trek

Are you serious? Do you want humans to start calling black people "brown" too?

Much as the "pink-skin" thing struck me as equally weird, I think this is a valid point. We use the terms "black" and "white", despite nobody actually being those colours.

What was slightly odder, to me, was the fact that Shran used this term specifically for humans when it could be just as easily applied to Vulcans. You know, why define humans based on a characteristic they share with the Vulcans?

 

[JRoss]

I mean more than just the Andorians. I should have been clearer on that point. I mean that I hope writers writing from the perspective of an alien race wouldn't simply have aliens view humans as "pink" or "white."

 

[BillJ]

I mean more than just the Andorians. I should have been clearer on that point. I mean that I hope writers writing from the perspective of an alien race wouldn't simply have aliens view humans as "pink" or "white."

You also have to remember the first humans Shran is exposed to have pink skin. I really think you're looking for some offense where none was meant.

 

[JRoss]

Actually, I'm not looking for offense. Why would I look for offense? That doesn't even make sense.

I'm just saying, remember Mayweather and such.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Was "pinkskin" ever used against humans at large, or was it just Shran's slurrish nickname (akin to "whitey") for Archer?