starship flâneur

1990 by Elicia Donze. Drawn in PS. Please do not remove caption.

Hey, fellow trekkies, I’m gonna hold a presentation about Star Trek and Gender soon and need your help!

What are some episodes that come to mind that are about gender and genders or where gender features a large role in the plot and character development? Where were things and people maybe unnecessarily gendered?

Any and all shows are welcome, and so are scenes from movies. I’m especially looking for moments where the embodiment of gender was of importance (for example, the Borg used to be a genderless species but were gendered by the appearance of the Queen, yet their actors until then were all male and their agenda stereotypically masculine). And I’m very interested in finding connections between body ability and gender, so please hit me up with suggestions about disability in episodes too.

My eternal thanks for every help, and I hope to spark some interesting discussions too! I’ll be happy to write down the major points of my research and presentation too and point you to scientific literature if you’re interested!

Warlord s3 ep10 Voyager. Kes’ body is taken over by the spirit of a male warlord. The fact that it’s a man inside of a woman’s body plays a big part of the plot.

Unexpected s1 ep5 Enterprise. Trip is unintentionally impregnated after an encounter with an alien. The fact that he’s a man strongly shapes how both the characters and the narrative react to his pregnancy, as it’s considered amusing rather than horrifying.

Cogenitor s2 ep 22 Enterprise. The crew makes contact with a species who in order to reproduce must have the use of a third gender of their species, who exists in far smaller numbers than the other two, called a cogenitor. The cogenitor is played by a woman (tho I think they might have considered a man at first, but youd have to research that), and is meant to seem as gender neutral as possible. The character having a thing with Trip probably caused that change.

I’ve seen a post talking about in tng how the actresses who played Deanna and Beverly were made to take out some enemies by hitting them over the head with vases, while the men got to swordfight, even tho they had actual swordfight training that none of the men except Patrick Stewart had.

Metamorphosis s2 ep2 TOS. Zephram Cochrane is being held against his will by an alien whose body is a cloud. The alien is considered a threat until Kirk, Spock, and McCoy decide it’s a woman actually (because the UT uses a woman’s voice when translating) and say actually it’s not capturing you because it’s evil, it’s in love with you.

“Sub Rosa” s7e14 TNG: Crusher is harassed by then seduced/has sex with the ghost that was previously having sex with her grandma?

“The Q and the Grey” s3e11 Voyager: The Q get genders? Even though they were previously shown to be being evolved past such things?? And Q want to have sex with Janeway but Lady Q doesn’t like this??? It’s especially confusing that Q wants to be with specifically Janeway way when he’s already been shown to be obsessed with Picard. He’s not actually a man why didn’t he just grow a uterus and propose to him? He flirts with Picard all the time???

TOS had that one episode where Kirk was all like “women are part of my crew but all of them will want families one day and when woman get married they obviously can’t work anymore.”

Found it:  “On the other hand, she’s a woman. All woman. One day she’ll find the right man and off she’ll go, out of the service.” ( “Who Mourns For Adonais?” s2e4 TOS)

“Elaan of Troyius” s3e2 TOS: This queen is being forced into marriage and is super pissed about it but Kirk treats her like a child, calling her a “brat” and threatening to spank her. No consideration to the fact that she’s being forced to give up all her rights and that she’s being thrown into a completely foreign culture. Also he’s meant to teach her how to be “civilized” which was really fucked up.

“The Perfect Mate” s5e21 TNG: This lady Kamala was born and raised for the sole purpose of becoming the perfect wife. Who she is as a person depends fully on the man she is with.

“What Are Little Girls Are Made Of?” s1e9 TOS: A female shaped android is weak, emotional, and easily seduced because it looks like a girl.

“Life Support” s3e13 DS9: It’s acceptable for Nog to treat women like trash because his culture treats women like trash.

“The Enterprise Incident” s3e4 TOS: The Romulan commander is easily manipulated by men because she is a woman desperate for love.

 "Turnabout Intruder" s3e24 TOS: Kirk switches bodies with a woman. Uh, this whole episode is just a sexist wreck. Pretty sure it implies women can’t be captains because they’re too emotional?

There’s a fuck ton of creepy sexual assault/rape episodes