Sexual Harassment and Objectification in Star Trek

[Bry_Sinclair]

Sexism has been a part of Trek since the beginning, pretty much because it began back in the 60s and that was the mindset of men in the industry at times (Kirk is a walking harassment case). When you look at the casting sheet for abandoned Phase II it makes mention of the yeoman characters being: "played by a succession of young actresses, always lovely." Fast-forward to Trek in the 90s/00s and you have the likes of Seven and T'Pol, the "smart and sexy" female characters in ridiculous attire despite the fact that on the rare occasions they are put in normal uniform still manage to show off the fact they have curves. Even STD had backlash at the fact that one ship had a female CO and XO!

Don't get me started on the representation of LGBT in Trek.

If there is an actual case against people for abusing their power anywhere then they should be held accountable, even if it does tar what they are involved in.

 

[Flork]

I think all that's true.

The thing is, on some level, I can look to the 1960s and see why it was that way.

Pretty much everything on TV was sexist, though in some ways, Star Trek was less in that it at least tried to show women in some positions of authority (Number One in the pilot, for instance, until the network nixed the idea) and empowerment, including through appearance.

The miniskirt, we might forget, was a symbol of empowerment for young women in the 1960s and 1970s, and even women being scantily clad in general owed some acknowledgement to young women taking control of their bodies in a time when a woman wearing slacks might still be perceived by some people as inappropriate. Some colleges and universities, for instance, still had dress codes for women, which required them to wear dresses that covered pretty much everything. We see skimpy clothing now as sexist, but it wasn't entirely true in that era.

But that doesn't excuse why 20 or 30 years later, the various incarnations of Star Trek seemed to embrace a lot of the same attitudes, or worse. A woman in a catsuit was not a sign of empowerment in the 1990s or2000s, nor was repeatedly subjecting her to stories involving some form of rape (Deanna on TNG, Valeris in Star Trek VI, T'Pol on ENT, and so forth). With the exception of Voyager, women were still mostly in subordinate roles. The diversity dimensions had hardly improved, too. Most characters were still white -- although, and perhaps tellingly, the most brutish and hostile Klingons increasingly were being portrayed by African Americans -- and clearly the shows were being aimed at white males as their core audience. And LGBT characters were nonexistent.

 

[ihno]

Wasn't there the rumour/story that Grace Lee Whitney had been raped during the filming of TOS?

And yes, Star Trek is very sexist and very backwardy. It got a little better but TOS and TNG are not really watchable if you can't ignore that.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

With the exception of Voyager, women were still mostly in subordinate roles.

DS9 had a female First Officer and Chief Science Officer, as well as recurring characters that included captain of her own freighter, the representative of an (evil) empire, a lead campaigner for female liberation and equal rights for an entire species, and the spiritual leader of Bajor. None of them sound subservient to me.

 

[ralfy]

Ultimately, any show can be accused of triggering for one reason or another.

 

[BillJ]

It does create some challenge separating what the show appears to represent from the actual beliefs and practices of the people who create it.

Welcome to pretty much anything with structure?

The show further goes on to subject T'Pol to mind rape. Again, this seems something reserved for the female characters, or at the very least, seems to happen more to them than the males.

Picard was mind-raped twice in TNG ("The Best of Both Worlds", "The Inner Light"), LaForge once ("The Mind's Eye"). I know it happened to male characters in the other shows as well.

 

[Tallguy]

Kirk is a walking harassment case.

You must be thinking of Chris Pine.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

^ Both.

 

[Nyotarules]

Not sure anyone has said otherwise. But, even now, almost two-thirds of Americans are white. That is power, whether one likes it or not.

If you only plan to sell your show to 300 odd million people then it matters, if you want to reach the rest of the other 7 odd billion on the planet then......

"The non-Hispanic White percentage (63% in 2012[5]) tends to decrease every year, and this sub-group is expected to become a plurality of the overall U.S. population after the year 2043".

 

[BillJ]

If you only plan to sell your show to 300 odd million people then it matters, if you want to reach the rest of the other 7 odd billion on the planet then......

Well, yeah. That's why I mentioned up thread about Discovery being the first Trek series with international markets in mind.

 

[Flork]

Welcome to pretty much anything with structure?



Picard was mind-raped twice in TNG ("The Best of Both Worlds", "The Inner Light"), LaForge once ("The Mind's Eye"). I know it happened to male characters in the other shows as well.

Were there sexual components to such, though? T'Pol, for instance, ends up in bed with the man responsible. If memory serves, so does Deanna in her episode. Both turn out to be in their mind, of course, but the point is that the events are sexualized.

 

[Forbin]

I've never thought of the Valeris thing as a "mind-rape" - There is no sexual component, nor quest for dominance. Spock was essentially interrogating her forcibly. One could argue it may have been torture - mind waterboarding? But not "rape." He'd have done the same to a male suspect.
IMHO, of course.

 

[suarezguy]

So, I guess the questions are have there been latent sexism and homophobia in Star Trek all along?

Of course there was some homophobia and some, probably a lot of horniness/female objectifying among the producers of the show. The moments objectifying some of the female characters were clearly present on screen and I think recognized by most adult viewers (although I think most of the moments aren't completely objectifying, not to the point of sexism or otherwise dismissing the female character). I don't think that means there was hostility to or harassment of the actresses during the making of the shows.
Berman or Livingston objected to having same-sex couples (not sure if that was homophobia or just fear of controversy), I am surprised Braga would be hostile but I don't think either incident indicates pervasiveness.

Is it time to begin to ask the same questions about sexual harassment of the Star Trek franchise as is being asked of other Hollywood Institutions, like the Weinstein Company or on the set of House of Cards? Or is Star Trek so important to the concepts of diversity and inclusion, that it's a sacred cow above reproach? While I don't think an accusation is the same thing as a conclusion of guilt, should past accusations now be taken more seriously in the light of recent events?

Nothing is above reproach but (and) bad or questionable behavior like some of the producers dating some of the actresses doesn't and shouldn't tarnish the franchise.
I think any accusation deserves some consideration and it deserves a lot if it's by multiple women and/or by women with no financial or other career incentive to lie about it. There doesn't need to be suspicion just because it has some sexy content with women as does most filmed entertainment.

 

[suarezguy]

any criticism of Star Trek not being quite so diverse gets deflected by the audience issue. Having it both ways is a problem. It can't be a great exemplar of diversity if it stops well short of being diverse, for instance.

It can be a good, even still admirable example even though not a great, revolutionary or radical example.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

The end of Firefly's "A Man Called Jayne" seems appropriate for this thread.

JAYNE
Don't make no sense. What...Why the hell did that Mudder have to go and do that for, Mal? Jumping in front of that shotgun blast (to save Jayne's life). Hell, there weren't a one of them understood what happened out there. They're probably sticking that statue (of Jayne) right back up.

MAL
Most like.

JAYNE
I don't know why that eats at me so.

MAL
It's my estimation that...every man ever got a statue made of him, was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. About what they need.

It isn't about Star Trek's, or Firefly's, or One Tree Hill's producers or writers or actors. Its about the audience and what they need.

While Star Trek has always had its shortcomings when it came to gender equality, (Gates and Sirtis reportedly asked during the Robin Hood ep, why the only two actors in the cast trained in theatrical swordplay had to fight by crashing villains heads with pots / vases ) I still cringe when I watch that final TOS episode, "Turnabout Intruder" when Faux Kirk has this debate with Spock at the trial of Janice Lester.

SPOCK: Sir, there is only one issue here. Is the story of life-entity transfer believable? This crew has been to many places in the galaxy. They've been witness to many strange events. They are trained to know that what seems to be impossible often is possible, given the scientific analysis of the phenomenon.
"KIRK": Mister Spock, have you ever heard of a case such as described by Doctor Janice Lester?
SPOCK: Not precisely, no.
"KIRK": Oh. Assuming that you are correct in your belief, do you expect Starfleet Command to place this er, this er, person in command of the Enterprise?

After watching 70odd eps of TOS, it is unfortunate the series has to end with an ep that suggests women could never captain the Enterprise.

When I was young, one of the neighbor kids suggested we play Tom Sawyer, he'd be Tom and I would be Becky Thatcher.

"No way!" I exclaimed. "Becky never did anything fun in those books. You can be Tom and I'll be Huck Finn."

It was for that reason, 40 odd years later, I approached Nichelle Nichols in the autograph line at a Trek Con and thanked her for being such an inspiration, such a role model for that young girl. To show me you didn't have to be "the guy" to have adventures, have fun, have such a professional stature amongst so many fellow professionals.

The thing is, abusers may have hoisted themselves on their own petard. Their various shows may have helped to inspire young women (and young men ) to realize their self worth and refuse to be cowed by the powerful that prey upon them.



MAL
It's my estimation that...every man ever got a statue made of him, was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. About what they need.

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[Tallguy]

You know, it is either the power of Star Trek or the power of "life moving on" that the central plot line of Turnabout Intruder rings so incredibly false. There are episodes and issues (money, military) that we can go back and forth on because they are true to either our own experience or have been enforced and reinforced again and again in Trek.

The notion that women can't captain a ship in the 23rd century was head scratching at best if not outright laughable when I was watching Star Trek even in the 1970's.

I throw that into the bin with "Vulcan has no moon" and "Romulans don't have warp drive".

 

[Tenacity]

Picard was mind-raped twice in TNG ("The Best of Both Worlds", "The Inner Light"), LaForge once ("The Mind's Eye").

Kirk, Spock, Uhura and Chapel in Plato's Stepchildren.

But not "rape." He'd have done the same to a male suspect.

Because men don't rape men?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Because men don't rape men?

If Valeris had been male and Spock had forcibly mind-melded with him would anyone even have raised it as an example of rape? Or would it just be seen as extreme interrogation (if not outright torture)?

 

[Satron]

If Valeris had been male and Spock had forcibly mind-melded with him would anyone even have raised it as an example of rape? Or would it just be seen as extreme interrogation (if not outright torture)?

Meaning we see it as worse because he forced the mind-meld on a woman?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Meaning that male rape is often overlooked compared to female rape (despite both being horrific and traumatic events for the victims). There has already been a comment here about how no male characters have been mentally raped in the franchise, even though that is not true.