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The man in the dress

I liked the skant and it's not as crazy as many people seem to think. Men have worn skirts for most of human history and they still do today, why wouldn't they wear them or something similar (skant =/= skirt) in the future, especially in a society that includes not only all of humanity, but dozens of alien civilizations.

Many fans like to claim that Star Trek (and by extension its fans) is sparkling with tolerance and wisdom and that the world would be a better place if we would be a little more like the federation, but as soon as a random extra is depicted wearing something that looks like a miniskirt all you hear is "ridiculoustransvestiteskirtcrap!*snort*". :rolleyes:

I'm not saying Picard should have worn a frilly dress every third episode, but an extra in the background in a skant? Come on!

:guffaw:
I've had the same thoughts; aren't Trek fans supposed to be enlightened? Maybe Q is right? But, your last comment (which I understand) gives away the truth. Face it, we just laugh at this image of a guy in a skirt. Can't you just imagine Geordi trying to explain to Data why everyone is laughing? It's part of being human. We should be kind, but when everyone has the same thought at this image; there could be something else going on here. Something beyond our control. I don't find aliens, races with strange shapes or anything like that funny. But the site of that dude in a space skirt is just laugh out loud hilarious. Perhaps, not so much for the gender issue, but for the desperate attempt at 1980s style politically correct reconciliation gone wild. Of course, it's an awkward and embarrassing attempt to excuse the sexy skirts from TOS.

I understand the effort to rationalize our choices or to somehow enlighten ourselves, but like any good ole' boy, redneck with a few PBRs guzzled down, we toss qualified barbs out at the thought of Picard in some frilly girl outfit! Ha!

Perhaps gender roles and expectations have nothing to do with enightenment. Perhaps they are more genetic, or intrinsic to our existance than we can understand.

Face it, many of us cringe, laugh and gasp at the site of this poor dude in a skirt, but nervously glance over our shoulder waiting for the thought police to write our names down in some KGB notebook.

There is nothing "enlightened" about a minority of people forcing our very thought life to conform to their imperial commands, frilly dress or not. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
 
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why wouldn't they wear them or something similar (skant =/= skirt) in the future, especially in a society that includes not only all of humanity, but dozens of alien civilizations.
The Vulcans, male and female, seem to favor robes over business suits,
ever wonder if the Vulcans wore nickers beneath those robes?

I've had the same thoughts; aren't Trek fans supposed to be enlightened?
Well enlightenment, according to Immanuel Kant, is the ability to use one's understanding of reality without guidance from the group. Simply going along with what is correct (politically?) is a form of laziness, and being afraid to speak your own mind on a viewpoint that others likely won't share - for instants a man wearing a short skirt - certainly isn't a prime example of "enlightenment".

So VulcanJedi, someone thinking for themselves and voicing their objection, outrage or just plain amusement at the sight of this individual wearing a skirt, is in fact a case of Star Trek fans being enlightened.

Kant on enlightenment: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html

:):):):)
 
I never really understood whta the big deal was with the men's skirt. Greek warriors and the Roman army wore skirts that short for centuries. I know it doesn't seem practical but apparently it worked. And they usually only wore underwear when it was cold. At least the men's skirt is a bit more prectical than the TOS miniskirts because it's longer.
 
Sigh, I'll say it again, it's got nothing to do with progressive thought, it's got nothing to with "enlightenment" - or lack of - it all boils down to one simple thing:

It's a rubbish uniform.

It's a rubbish uniform that looks rubbish on both men and women.

I believe most Star Trek fans are open-minded and free of prejudice and simply judge the TNG skant on one criterion - it's, well, rubbish.

I think most were etremely thankful it disappeared rapidly.
 
Sigh, I'll say it again, it's got nothing to do with progressive thought, it's got nothing to with "enlightenment" - or lack of - it all boils down to one simple thing:

It's a rubbish uniform.

It's a rubbish uniform that looks rubbish on both men and women.

I believe most Star Trek fans are open-minded and free of prejudice and simply judge the TNG skant on one criterion - it's, well, rubbish.

I think most were etremely thankful it disappeared rapidly.

The only problem I have with this particular argument is that the only example that's consistently cited is a man.

If the womens' version was brought up as frequently, your argument would IMO have more credibility.
 
Sigh, I'll say it again, it's got nothing to do with progressive thought, it's got nothing to with "enlightenment" - or lack of - it all boils down to one simple thing:

It's a rubbish uniform.

It's a rubbish uniform that looks rubbish on both men and women.

I believe most Star Trek fans are open-minded and free of prejudice and simply judge the TNG skant on one criterion - it's, well, rubbish.

I think most were etremely thankful it disappeared rapidly.

The only problem I have with this particular argument is that the only example that's consistently cited is a man.

If the womens' version was brought up as frequently, your argument would IMO have more credibility.

Ta da. Happy now?

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It still sucks.
 
As I recall, Marina Sirtis referred to this particular costume as the cosmic cheerleader outfit ... and she generally disfavored it.

With all honesty, she looks good in it.
 
. . . the site of that dude in a space skirt is just laugh out loud hilarious. Perhaps, not so much for the gender issue, but for the desperate attempt at 1980s style politically correct reconciliation gone wild. Of course, it's an awkward and embarrassing attempt to excuse the sexy skirts from TOS.
Indeed. A classic case of overcompensation.
 
Is he wearing tights (pantyhose) too? His leg colour doesn't match his arm colour. :lol:

And for the record, I think the skant looked great on Marina. :)
 
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