Sexual Harassment and Objectification in Star Trek

[Qonundrum]

I'm not sure of what to think of Roddenberry. I do think he used the casting couch and no doubt cheated on his wives,his first one we know for fact and I am sure he did bad things like touching people without their consent but the Whitney thing is actual kind of new to me because until recently I hadn't even know she had claimed to have been sexually assaulted. I believe it because of the era and how she was fired plus the drug problems but it wasn't until I think a couple of days ago someone mentioned Roddenberry as the possible abuser. Not sure if now if that was theory or what made that person think he might have did it other than if he did do I don't think it would be a shock.

As for Barrett I have always wondered what to think in that if he is cheating on her and maybe doing worst and she doesn't come forward that almost feels as bad, yet at the same time it was a different time so you got to judge her on that level as well. Also the impression i get is that the set must have been like some wild swingers party where lots of people are sleeping around with each other and doing drugs. I mean it was the 60's so that makes sense I guess.

Jason

http://ew.com/article/1994/04/08/gene-roddenberry-myth-and-man-behind-star-trek/

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/IDIC (one of the things the EW article was alluding to)

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439900/star-trek-gene-roddenberry-was-misogynistic-hack
(bits I'd disagree with, but it's worth an independent read)

Looks like some of the stuff was well known.

”One of the most obvious facts of Roddenberry’s life,” the biographer observes in his flat-as-a-pancake prose, ”was that nearly everyone who worked with him regularly in a creative capacity on any incarnation of Star Trek eventually disliked or distrusted him.”

That obvious fact may help explain why so many of Roddenberry’s acquaintances apparently declined to be interviewed for this book. In fact, of all the Trek actors, only Leonard Nimoy, who played the pointy-eared Mr. Spock, spoke to Engel on the record. ”Gene always had an agenda — his own,” he’s quoted as saying. ”I didn’t see him step up to bat and be the decent, honorable humanist that he portrayed himself to be.” That so many crucial voices are missing from this account — from William Shatner to Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barrett — is one of the biography’s major weaknesses. It never builds the heft of a truly authoritative portrait.

Which corroborates the IDIC situation, if nothing else. Maybe the others took all of Gene as opposed to looking at one aspect and decided the complexities and time he was raised in allowed for some forgiveness. I'm not going to judge. I wasn't there, I don't know enough facts. But the article did tell this:

This biography, by the way, isn’t the only Roddenberry volume on the horizon. An authorized book is due in June from Penguin (written by David Alexander, who was hand-picked for the job by Roddenberry shortly before his death). Trekkies concerned about preserving their beloved spiritual leader’s public image will undoubtedly give that bio a much warmer reception.

One slight problem: Was it not Captain Picard who said that the first duty is to the truth? The truth is probably in the middle. I doubt Nimoy was lying just to get a cheap thrill.

 

[Forbin]

Remember that Gene wrote words to the Star Trek theme, to the great surprise of Alexander Courage, specifically so he would always get 50% of the royalties.