Women in Star Trek

[wefarrell]

Hi everyone,
I'm taking a women's studies class and I've decided to write a research paper about women (and more generally gender) on Star Trek. I'm going to look at the roles of women on TOS, TNG and Voyager since those series all follow the same basic format. These roles of women change throughout the franchise and reflect ideals about women in the workplace of the different time periods in which these series were aired. I'll also have to write about the show's failure to address LGBT issues.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any literature addressing this topic? Are there any episodes that strongly pertain to these issues that I should watch? Particularly, does anyone know of an episode of TOS where Uhura gives orders to a man?

I only got into Star Trek recently and I've been watching it non stop for the past 6 months. If any of you trekkies out there can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

 

[Caliburn24]

Well, first you'll need to watch "Turnabout Intruder" from the original series.

 

[wefarrell]

Thanks for the suggestion. Just read the synopsis, looks like it's right up my alley. Watching now.

 

[T'Girl]

I'll also have to write about the show's failure to address LGBT issues.

The Outcast. This episode was a total let down, instead of having a planet of openly gay individuals, the long promised gay episode mearly showed a world of androgynous men and women who lived in a society without any prescribed gender roles. Apparently all the actors protraying the J'naii were females, although Jonathan Frakes commented that TPTB should have cast all male actors in the J'nali role and Riker should have "fallen" for a androgynous male character. This was worst than nothing.

The Cage. While the role of first officer was famously a female character, that's where women (woman) in postions of power and command comes to a grinding halt. After Number One, the only prominent female Enterprise crewperson shown was Yeoman Colt, the Captains combo secretary/batman. In other words a subservant position. Again the aliens in the story were androgynous, played by women. The Talosians were more genderless than the T'nalis.

TNG. The Doctor (both of them) and the Councilor were both women and eventually became bridge officers who did rarely commanded the ship, however all the regular senior command positions were portrayed by males. Women did occasionally guest star as presidents, ship Captains and admirals.

 

[T.D. Possum]

If you'd like to include TAS episodes, you might take a look at this:

http://www.startrekanimated.com/tas_ep_lorelei.html

Uhura takes command, rescues all the blokes with an all-female team.

 

[Cornholio]

does anyone know of an episode of TOS where Uhura gives orders to a man?

Uhura takes command of the Enterprise in the TAS episode 'the Lorelei Signal'.

she also orders that guy to get in the closet in TVH.

welcome to the board!

have some nachos...

 

[Rek]

the show's failure to address LGBT issues.

Well if you inculded DS9, which was by far one of the best, you'd get to see a bisexual(Jadzia Dax, or maybe people would argue its just Dax) and her meeting a wife from one of her past lives. Dax still felt the feelings from being inlove with her but she wasn't allowed to date wives/husbands from her past lives. So throughout the ep she struggles with her feelings for the women and everyone seems 100% fine with the concept that she loves the other women. I never saw one rude remake about it.

 

[sbk1234]

As you're analyzing this, make sure you put it into the proper time perspective. TOS may seem really outdated by today's standards, including its roles for women, but in its day it was considered very forward moving. The same can be said for the others. By Voyager we had a female captain, engineer, and technical expert. So the show continued to advance.

 

[wefarrell]

Caliburn24
Just watched Turnabout Intruder, there's a ton of stuff I can use from it. While TOS was way ahead of its time this episode seems to establish the upper limit of what women are capable of in Star Fleet. I thought it was kind of strange that the show would acknowledge the lack of female Star Fleet captains, but when Scottie calls Lester (In Kirk's body) hysterical and overly emotional it seems to justify this lack of female captains. Thanks again.

T'Girl
I thought TNG's portrayal of women was rather favorable. The ship's doctor is just as important as the Captain and even has a slight amount of authority over them. Picard doesn't seem nearly as macho as Kirk does. Not that he's feminine but somewhat gender neutral (aside from the bald head) and when he's on the bridge he could be replaced with a female captain and the scripts would still make sense. But you're right there is a total absence of women in command roles. There are plenty of women who outrank the main male characters, but you never see them doing much commanding. By having women play the roles of counselor and doctor it definitely reinforces the idea that women are nurturing. It's too bad Kira in DS9 didn't turn out to be a lesbian, I totally thought she was until they made it clear she wasn't.

Voyager sends mixed messages. On the one hand you have Janeway who has the even tempered, perfect brains to gut ratio that makes a great Star Fleet captain. But then you have 7 of 9 who's a sex object. Haven't watched too much voyager though so I might be overstepping with this analysis.

 

[Cornholio]

It's too bad Kira in DS9 didn't turn out to be a lesbian, I totally thought she was until they made it clear she wasn't.

the MU Kira was bisexual, as was the MU Ezri.

 

[wefarrell]

Rek
I didn't see that one, I'll have to look into it. I still think the entire franchise has fallen short in that respect, female bisexuality isn't exactly pushing the envelope as far as tv goes. With very few exceptions, all of the alien races they encounter that possess sex live in heterosexual monogamous relationships. Especially strange when you consider that in human history the most common living arrangement isn't monogamy but polygamy. Wikipedia has a large section about Star Trek's failure to address LGBT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexuality_in_Star_Trek#LGBT_in_Star_Trek

sbk1234
I will definitely keep TOS in its context. When I first started watching it a year ago I was amazed at how well the show treated Uhura, very ahead of its time. I found a quote from one of the first female astronauts that cited Uhura as her motivation for joining the space program. Since this is a Womens studies class I'll have to heavily criticize anything that comes out of the 1960's, but my negative criticisms will be directed more at the time period than at the show. My thesis will be that the franchise reflects progressive aspirations for women in the work place during the time period in which each show was aired.

 

[wefarrell]

the MU Kira was bisexual, as was the MU Ezri.

I remember that episode, I thought they did it more to be sexually appealing than anything else.

 

[Rek]

I agree, as a male bisexual myself I know how socially its harder to be accepted then a female bisexual. Not to say females have it way easier or anything...

In theory I'm sure the people of the future Star Trek would be accepting of all GLBT and medical advances for the T part would be huge. But as a TV show I'd expect needs to tred lightly on the subject with so many bigots in this world.

 

[Cornholio]

the MU Kira was bisexual, as was the MU Ezri.

I remember that episode, I thought they did it more to be sexually appealing than anything else.

umm, you're probably right about that. some hardcore Niners might be able to tell you if there's anything under the surface in some of the novels and stuff.

and as far as TOS goes, don't forget that in 'the Cage' Captain Pike had a female XO.

 

[Rek]

the MU Kira was bisexual, as was the MU Ezri.

I remember that episode, I thought they did it more to be sexually appealing than anything else.

umm, you're probably right about that. some hardcore Niners might be able to tell you if there's anything under the surface in some of the novels and stuff.

and as far as TOS goes, don't forget that in 'the Cage' Captain Pike had a female XO.

As far as MU Kira goes, her realtionship with our universe Kira was purely narcissistic. If you watch the extras with Kira's actor talking about what it was like playing her MU Kira narcissism pretty much sums it up.

 

[UssGlenn]

I thought it was kind of strange that the show would acknowledge the lack of female Star Fleet captains
.....
I thought TNG's portrayal of women was rather favorable.... But you're right there is a total absence of women in command roles. .

In the interest of balance you might want to mention that Lester's line isn't explicit about no female captains. It's just as legitimate to take it that people who are starfleet captains have no time for relationships. In Kirk's case this means his "world of starship captains doesn't admit women". Why would Lester blame and punish Kirk for Starfleet's policy?

As for TNG don't forget about Tasha Yar. The Security Chief was supposed to be female, it's just bad luck the actress left.

 

[Luther Sloan]

TOS -

Sometimes had an almost Anchorman (i.e. the movie) point of view towards women. They wore short skirts, attended to the needs of the Captain (i.e. Yoemans). They were strongly portrayed in situations as either love interests or objects of beauty. And none of them have ever made it to becoming Captains at this point in time, either.

TOS Movies -

Women were primarily portrayed in the standard love interest role like most movies (with the notable exceptions of the two independently strong Vulcan female characters of course). In addition: there was also a black female Captain within Star Trek 4, as well.

TNG -

Women were in powerful but subordinate positions. They seemed to have gotten a little more consideration within this series, but only slightly. Both Crusher and Troi had been shown in leadership positions as Captains within the series (at one point). However, overall: the males still dominated the show.

TNG Movies -

Like the Original Series Movies: Females are portrayed in the standard love interest type position. However, the difference here is that there is no strong female characters taking up center stage at any point, though.

DS9 -

Probably the best portrayal of women overall. You had depictions of women taking control and being commanding in many different situations and you had them also being very beautiful creatures that required to be loved like every normal flesh and blood woman. Kira and Jadzia had both been in command positions many of times and each had their fair share of intimate encounters too. Particularly with major characters on the show. In addition, women where shown to be faithful to the ones they loved thru out this series, as well. Jadzia still was willing to give up everything for her ex wife, Kasidy Yates turned herself in and went to prison in order to remain faithful to Sisko, Kira secretly remained faithful by leaving herself open to possibly date Odo without even realizing it (Thus why she revealed to Dax that she had a moment of clarity).

VOY -

This series portrays women in strong leadership roles in it's highest form. It had a very strong willed female Captain, Chief Engineer, and a brain child. However, the brain child (i.e. Seven of Nine) was also a sex symbol on the show, though. In other words, in part she was there to drive up the ratings with her strong and continued sex appeal as an ongoing thing. Which was a first for a Star Trek series.


ENT -

This series portrays women as sex objects. They are nothing more than subordinates or beautiful things to look at. They did try and make an attempt at giving women a sense of power and command within this series, however the lead female Vulcan who had taken command of the ship (on certain occasions) was uninspiring and lifeless to say the least (mostly in part because of the acting and the scripts).


Star Trek (2009) -

Women were displayed equally as both both beautiful objects to be loved and nurturers.



~LS.

 

[Rek]

Jadzia still was willing to give up everything for her ex husband (who ended up as a Trill Woman)

~LS.

No it was the other way around. Dax was the man and the Trill women was the wife.

In the fourth season episode "Rejoined", Jadzia encounters Lenara Kahn, who had been the wife of Torias Dax as a previous host (Nilani Kahn). Because Torias died suddenly, Dax's relationship with Kahn's previous host was never resolved, and the two struggle in the episode with their feelings towards one another. This is complicated by a taboo in Trill culture against romantic relationships with partners of previous hosts.

 

[Luther Sloan]

Oh, right. My bad, my friend.
It's been a while since I seen that one.

Anyways, I corrected the mistake.
Thanks, man!

 

[WillsBabe]

Check out "Sexual Generations: TNG and Gender" by Robin Roberts. It might be useful.