Hmmm, one of the reasons I wasn't a big fan of Trek during the Berman era was because of how regressive it seemed. This current episode of STC kind of showed that there was still work to be done even in the supposed 'progressive' future.
When we look at how far we've come today (in regards to who is our current president, and media depictions of certain groups - African Americans) we can say there is progress. Yet, there is a lot of work to be done (e.g. police brutality, Asian American representation, equality of women and men, skin privileges that still occur today).
In Trek, a lot of what was said in regards to 'progress' didn't always ring true.
Enterprise:
*Archer says at one point that Earth has put aside all their differences and focused on space travel...(or something to that effect). Yet, we see his crew isn't that diverse (even among the extras)....and Shran only sees humans as 'pink skins' (not a diverse crowd). On top of that, Archer seems to have a dislike of Vulcans.
*Starfleet doesn't seem to be that diverse.
*Captain Hernandez in command of the USS Columbia shows there were female commanders in the 22nd century or at least
one female commander. However, even though it is a non-canonical novel series....her ship is lost during the course of the
Destiny series.
TOS:
*Stiles from "Balance of Terror" has a dislike of Vulcans.
*In "The Undiscovered Country" there is a dislike of Klingons, and a combined effort to take out both Klingon and Federation individuals to maintain a 'Separatist' movement. (And no, Queen Amidala has no say in the matter).
*We saw our female --
first female -- starship captain with the U.S.S. Saratoga in "The Voyage Home." We also saw our dark-skinned Indian captain (of a ship I didn't catch the name of) in the same film. Both of them hit by the mysterious probe, but showing there are different faces in command. However, with the focus being primarily on Kirk and Spock rather than ensemble....get pushed to the side even more so than the supporting players: Uhura, Scotty, Chekov...etc. (Even though, those individuals actually got a bit more to do in the 4th film).
TNG:
*Picard has an uppity attitude at first which turns into a self-righteous attitude about his century. Granted, anyone living in their present may have an uppity attitude about their time period versus a 'barbaric' past, but there always was a question about when to step into a society when the Prime Directive was at play -- basically deciding who gets help versus who will suffer.
*Our first (and only) female commander of Enterprise (or
the Enterprise) is seen with Rachel Garrett. Yet, she gets killed off. So far we've seen primarily individuals who are straight white males as commander of the 'flagship' of the Federation (e.g. Kirk, Harriman, Picard).
Ahhh, but Geordi was in command of the
Enterprise for a small, small moment (in a pretty good episode from the 1st season)....but was given hell by a subordinate. We wouldn't see him in command again in the series.
*Ferengi were surprised to see Tasha Yar (supposedly) on equal footing with the male characters. Unfortunately, she later gets killed off.
*There even seemed to be a repression of feminity. If a woman wasn't covered up from head to toe, she wasn't deemed of respect.
DS9:
*Jadzia Dax owns her sexuality and is a badass in hand-to-hand combat.
*Kira is a badass in hand-to-hand combat and also owns her sexuality. Albeit, she tends to prefer combat-like or combat-ready clothing versus Dax who doesn't mind dressing 'sexy' at times (e.g. preferring to wear the 23rd century TOS outfit versus the tunic and pants which some female officers also wore).
*Ferengi believe that women shouldn't wear clothes, but at this point, they are the butt of jokes so they're not taken seriously.
*Sisko was upset that Starfleet and the Federation seem to turn a blind eye to other atrocities that might be happening far away from Earth because there is a belief that Starfleet/Federation is automatically a benign organization 'just because.' Yet, we do have the mysterious Section 31...and Admiral Leyton, whom Sisko relayed his concerns to, wanted to maintain an upper-hand not unlike those individuals from Star Trek 6.
Voyager:
*It was always Janeway's 'way' or no way, even if she was wrong or questionable. (This happened frequently). And because she was the first female captain to have her own show....there was no one else (primarily a female captain) to balance this portrayal.
It's funny she eventually became an Admiral, since Admirals in the Berman era tend to wear their rank metaphorically on their sleeve and not listen to opposing views. There were definitely exceptions.
Miscellaneous:
As I mentioned in an earlier post:
Crisis on Centaurus, Trek novel, didn't shy away from saying that racism between humans, due to skin color, still existed...particularly on a colony away from Earth.
I shy away from novels these days because they aren't canon and they're usually hit or miss for me (usually missing!). However, I thought that aspect of the novel was interesting.
***
The current STC episode showing that there is still sexism, in this case 'institutional sexism,' isn't farfetched. It shows that even in the 23rd century, there is still progress that needs to be made.
47 years after the last TOS episode aired, the topic of gender discrimination is a perfectly relevant social issue for Trek to comment on. Even If done a bit heavy handedly, it is still in the best tradition of Star Trek.
