Klingons were legit less fucked up than contemporary society as we know it today, and they were still fucked up.
It gets even more depressing when thinking about the real world. In the Futurama universe, everyone is respectful of others’ pronouns. Even Richard Nixon is careful about them.
Star Trek is a huge exception, but It’s strange how absent the concept of gender normally is from scifi. Things that are perfectly normal in scifi include cybernetic enhancements, genetic engineering, etc., but god forbid anyone use technology to change their gender. And if technology really existed to instantly and effortlessly change gender, I suspect almost everyone would be doing it because that’s exactly what happens in social VR apps like VRChat.
Things that are perfectly normal in scifi include cybernetic enhancements, genetic engineering, etc., but god forbid anyone use technology to change their gender.
The average “Singularity™” prophet on /r/Futurology on
Yeah, that was my reaction as well. It’s bloody strange - it isn’t lingered on, but Kovacs even mentioned a few occasions of being sleeved in other genders as positive (though the context might have been about enjoying superior pain tolerance) and his Awesome and Cool Envoy conditioning, as-described, would definitely put work into erasing any fucks given.
The latest book Thin Air however, had nastier sexual dynamics and gave me a strong sense of actual bitterness and not just thematic cynicism. Kinda sucks.
There’s a documentary on DS9 called What You Leave Behind that touches on some of the behind the scenes of the LGBT aspects of he show. Apparently they had a hell of a time getting some of the Dax stuff past the studio execs and show runners. The writers and actors also wanted Bashir and Garak to have an explicitly gay relationship but that was also forbidden.
I forget the fallout of it but in Ghost in the Shell SAC Bato confronts Kusanagi on why she doesn’t switch to a male cyborg for it’s greater physical prowess and I think he gets put in his place. Iirc I think the conversation could have been handled better but at least it exists!
There’s also the implication of her merging with the purely digital entity at the end of the original movie.
There’s also theories that the Major’s original meat space is so wrapped in mystery but some clues suggest AMAB.
All that to say, a lot, but not all, Ghost in the Shell series are worth some time!
There’s also theories that the Major’s original meat space is so wrapped in mystery but some clues suggest AMAB.
Isn’t it known from 2nd Gig episode 11 that she was born a girl?
I love the show and in some ways it is easily the best of Trek, but it shouldn’t go unmentioned that shit like Profit and Lace exists which is extremely frustrating, like trying to beat the “haha man in a girl costume haha” joke into the ground so much even the actor(who is a real good guy too) spoke out against hating it, and it is even more disappointing because the top of DS9 talent worked on that too written by Ira and with a nod of approval from Piller? Yep nope.
Its a black spot on an otherwise amazing show though, always remember don’t hold hollywood libs as heroes and don’t expect to get burned at some point.
It also shouldn’t go unmentioned that the producers on the show prevented a lot of queer stuff from happening. There’s the episode of TNG where Frakes falls in love with a non-binary alien (who I believe was supposed to be played by a man, but was ultimately played by a woman) and then there’s all of Garak and Bashir, which only has a queer subtext due to the actors.
I love the shows, but like you said they were made by a lot of people and some of those people weren’t great.
Frakes is a mensch. He’d been talking about how he wanted a male actor in that guest role for decades. Who would have guessed in the mid 1980s that the man brought on for the Kirk Womanizer 2.0 role would have turned out to be among the best LGBT+ allies in the franchise, playing a character who had a basically flawless record for wanting extremely clear consent from partners?
Sometimes I wonder what TNG would have been like if Stewart had left the show after season 3 with Frakes taking on top billing. We might have even been spared the awful TNG movies where Stewart’s ego took over the writing room.
“haha man in a girl costume haha”
My wife’s been showing me Arrested Development so I know where all those memes came from, and while parts of the show are clever, “gay lol” “man in a girl costume lol” and even “creeping on children lol” are all recurring punchlines and it’s like a minefield of decades expired edginess to get to the good parts.
Being-gay-is-a-punchline-and-is-synonymous-with-men-wearing-dresses was a fuuuuuucked up era of comedy that goes back probably further than I can remember.
Bri’ish comedians when that can’t do transphobic jokes any more:
Well I guess we’re cancelled
Especially given the instances in the show where the actors wanted things to be more queer, but weren’t allowed. Frakes with the non-binary alien and Bashir/Garak come to mind. “It was the 90s” doesn’t work when several people on the show wanted more queer stuff and (as said above) didn’t approve of the homophobic shit that made it in.
wusband. hife.
EDIT: I just realized that was-band is probably a term for ex-husband
