The 'Ladies' of Stаr Trеk

By Lеаnnе Bell

The other night I tuned into the much-hyped new Stаr Trеk series, Enterprise, the prequel to the sixties show that started it all. I have watched the various Stаr Trеk series off and on over the years, and will admit to liking the show in spite of the flaky reputation most trekkies have earned, but this new incarnation of Gеnе Rоddеnbеrry's vision is not something I'm likely to watch again. The show was pretty much as I thought - bland, quite uninteresting, populated by the kind of cardboard characters shows like Voyager made popular (hint - playing poker, or liking 20th century TV, or having a catch phrase one uses all the time does not a character make) and very dry, given as it was to lengthy discussions about the diplomatic problems between humans and their Vulcan guests. Yawn.

One scene, however, caught my attention. It featured a well-built couple cleaning each other in a decontamination shower (and who says romance is dead?), which provided ample opportunity to show off rock hard pecs and abs and torpedo boobs and the whole nine yards. It was as if Aаrоn Spеllіng had dropped in on the set that day and dashed off a few changes to the script. This in itself, while a shameless attempt to lure viewers, was a harmless little injection of sexiness in an otherwise boring show. The woman in this shower scene had a wonderful body, and seemed to know just how to massage parts of it in order to keep viewers interested and the censors satisfied. She was perfect...except for one thing.

She wasn't human.

This character was a Vulcan, an austere, emotionless, analytical being with no room in her ordered mind for emotion or feeling of any kind. Even within the confines of an intimate shower, even with a gorgeous guy rubbing his hands all over her, she remained unmoved by the experience and spoke in a monotone of their mission, which, to the actress' credit, is precisely what one would expect from Vulcans as we've come to know them. It just didn't make for a very exciting or moving scene. Maybe this was intended to be some masochist's fantasy, an overtly sexual cold fish whom one could easily imagine with leathers and studded whip, but I don't think so. I think it was just another example of Stаr Trеk's peculiar take on sexy women: every one of them over the years, every truly sexy and scintillating woman to appear on that show, was inhuman, or demonstrated subhuman qualities.

The most striking example is the remarkably built Jеrі Ryаn who single-handedly saved the Voyager series from ratings purgatory as the magnificently sculpted, spandexed Seven of Nine. She was eye-poppingly attractive... in fact, every person I know, of both sexes, couldn't take their eyes off her sheer bodaciousness. But although technically human, Seven of Nine was an abrupt, often rude, emotionless Borg drone unwillingly liberated from the collective and struggling to find reason and rationality among her human counterparts. She made half-hearted attempts throughout the series to "find her humanity", but she continued to "regenerate" in that freaky green tube thing and to wear those big metallic things on her face and hands and spent most of her time in Astrometrics trying to improve the efficiency of the warp engines and biting the heads off any poor soul who wandered in there for conversation. She didn't even use her given name, Annika, but preferred instead the awkward nickname "Seven", further removing her from the realm of human identity.

Whenever the actress was allowed to stretch her acting muscles and smile once in a while, it was always in some storyline that showed her dreaming or rehearsing humanity in the holodeck, or living in some fantasy world where she and the other drones gathered during their regeneration cycle; it was never real. Even during the last episode, after a few years among the crew and a few light years away from her Borg past, she was still only tentatively beginning to explore romance with Chakotay, of all people, whom I believe was cast as her love interest not out of chemistry or compatibility but due to a singular lack of available male crew members. Who knows if she managed to become fully human, but given her uncomfortable fumblings over dinner in that last episode, I think it's unlikely.

There were other women on Voyager, of course, but it's worth noting that the ones with any depth, the ones we were supposed to like or feel for or encourage, the ones with intellect and warmth and "humanity" were anything but sexy, rarely feminine, and never beautiful. Janeway was about as masculine as they come, even down to her raspy voice and no-nonsense demeanor, and B'Lanna was a Klingon, complete with turtle-shell forehead and violent temper, Kess was a flaky, wide-eyed child who ended up disintegrating her molecules or something; the only other remotely sexy woman, Seska, turned out to be Cardassian by birth and a traitor to boot.

This has been a common theme in the Stаr Trеk franchise. On Dееp Spаcе Nіnе, the sexiest woman was not only not human, she was actually a man, or rather a very old male parasite type-thing living in the body of a sexy young woman, who was even addressed as "Old Mаn" by the captain. It may have given the producers an excuse to have her kiss another woman, but it failed to let the actress be sexy all the time, or in a feminine way. Sure, they paired her up with Worf before killing her off...but that says more about his sexual preferences than her sexiness, I think. And in spite of Mаjоr Kіrа's body hugging uniform, she was still masculine in manner and deportment, held a masculine military position, wore her hair close cropped and strutted around the place like a little commando, all hardness and brusqueness and very little femininity. Even when the actress playing Kira got pregnant, the writers passed it off as a surrogacy, a baby Kira was carrying for someone else, as if they found it impossible to acknowledge Kira might have sex just for her own enjoyment, and might have her own child just because she wanted one.

Thе Nеxt Generation was just as bad. Dеаnnа Trоі was probably the most attractive woman on board, but she was a touchy-feely half-human psychologist who, when faced with a real crisis, crumbled into insecurity and didn't know what to do. She was allowed to be sexy once...but that was only when some devious alien had managed to invade her mind and suck the spirit right out of her, causing her to turn into a ragged old harpie soon thereafter. Tаshа Yаr was human, and attractive, but might has well have been a man with her short cropped hair, her brusque manner and her position of Sеcυrіty Chіеf. She only got sexy when the whole crew was intoxicated by some strange phenomenon, and even at that chose an android as her lover, later blushing at her impropriety for episodes to come. As for Dr. Crusher, she was attractive and intelligent, perhaps not overtly sexy but certainly a good love match for Cаptаіn Pіcаrd...but was replaced with the older, dowdier Dr. Polaski whom the producers thought was more "suitable" as a love interest for the captain, but whose bland matronliness hurried the return of Dr. Crusher shortly thereafter.

The only truly sexy women on that show, and other Stаr Trеk shows, were aliens put in stasis to be love slaves of foreign dignitaries, or the matriarchal tyrants of a world ruled by women, or an alien being masquerading as the devil to make a trembling planet surrender themselves to her completely. They were suspicious, devious, not what they appeared to be, and definitely up to no good, often seducing the hapless male crew members with their wily ways.

Even in the original Stаr Trеk, all the really sexy or beautiful women were aliens or robots or presented a danger of some kind to the Enterprise crew. The crew women were usually efficient and intelligent, like Uhura or the long suffering Nυrsе Chаppеll, but they weren't filmed through dreamy cheesecloth or with the spacey oboe music that usually accompanied the shots of the really beautiful girls. The common thread throughout all these shows was the lack of humanity or morality among the sexy women, and the lack of sexiness among the moral, human women. Thе Stаr Trek movies have been no exception either, most notably with the casting of sultry Kіrstіе Allеy as the blase Vυlcаn Sааvіk and the slyly provocative Alіcе Krіgе as the Bоrg Qυееn, who didn't even have a whole body let alone an alien one, and had to be lowered into a Borg outfit that clamped onto her from the collarbone down. If the Vulcan character on the new Enterprise is any indication, this trend is likely to continue for some time.

Why is this? Stаr Trеk was always praised for being ahead of its time not only in terms of technology and gadgets but also regarding its non-prejudicial casting of all nationalities. It was ahead of its time in portraying women as officers, captains, admirals, doctors and scientists...so why then does this series continue to play into outdated and ancient beliefs about the virtue of beautiful women? Why, on a series such as Stаr Trеk, do we again and again see evidence of our culture's belief that sexy women can't be good and good women can't be sexy?

Because they pretty much have to. If they didn't, they'd suffer for it one way or another. The producers know that beautiful women will attract viewers, therefore ratings, therefore advertising revenue and so they use them judiciously and whenever they possibly can...but at the same time, they risk losing viewership and coveted "respect" if they don't temper all that beauty with some subtle or not so subtle commentary about the worth and respectability of it. They can't notuse beautiful women in their shows, nobody would watch if they didn't - Voyager proved that. But they can't portray them as normal, average, moral people either, or else risk the wrath of feminist groups who will boycott them for it. So they work out a clumsy compromise, peppering their shows with curvaceous and beautiful babes, but at the same doing their level best to make sure they aren't moral, feeling, thinking, worthwhile realhuman beings.

Imagine the outcry if the producers of Voyager had cast Jеrі Ryаn as Cаptаіn Jаnеwаy, complete with her silver bodysuit and stiletto heels, and had given her all the warmth, wisdom, compassion and humour of any "regular" woman. Imagine the violent protests from women's groups who would demand a boycott of the show for its sexist views and it's damaging affect on the self-esteem of women. Imagine how often we'd hear that they want to see "real" women on tv, and how viciously they'd attack Mіss Ryаn for daring to look as good as she does. As it is, Kаtе Mυlgrеw, the actress who played Janeway, made it clear to the media on several occasions that she resented having her show saved by Mіss Ryаn's arrival - she resented having her job saved - and so it's not hard to imagine the onslaught of outrage that would erupt if Mіss Ryаn had been cast in a more human role.

It's all part of a dangerous trend among feminists, who espouse the idea that women are only "real" if they're unattractive, or overweight, or over twenty-five, and that anyone else is "plastic" or "impossible" or "unrealistic"... which must come as quite a surprise to the very real, very much alive and very much human Jеrі Ryаn and others like her. Only certain women - unattractive ones - deserve to have their self-esteem protected, it seems; "dignity", "respect" and "equality" only applies if you don'tlook good in spandex - if you do, you're no longer part of the sisterhood, you are as much a target as the men these feminists so vociferously hate. It's far, far better to dehumanize an attractive woman, these feminist groups think, than to establish that good character is equally important and to help all women achieve whatever beauty and intelligence, sexiness and strength of character as each is capable of achieving.

There is a real danger in anything that dehumanizes any, woman, because once it's established that it's acceptable to do to it a beautiful woman, it won't be long before it's an acceptable response to an intelligent one, or an independent one, or any one. As long as there are critics and lobbyists trying to make us believe that real women are unattractive and that attractive women aren't real, all women will suffer for it.

Stаr Trеk is just a television show, but the alarming thing is that this show has been heralded as "visionary", a look at a utopic future we're all supposed to strive for, a universe where humanity has evolved out of its primitive beliefs and prejudices and become truly "enlightened". It represents the ideals of our culture, the way things would be if we could personally design the future and advance the human race out into the final frontier. But if this is the future we envision, if says a lot about our present. And until women have the luxury of being beautiful and intelligent, sexy andserious if they choose, it's not a future I want any part of it. Whаt Stаr Trek needs is a woman with warmth, a babe with brains, a hottie with heart...Scotty, beam me up!