This is it then. The inevitable Janeway post.
I'm just gonna say it. I'm sick of this idea that people who don't uncritically love Janeway (or Kate Mulgrew's performance) must be raging misogynists. This is Baby's First Feminism thinking. Girlboss Gatekeep Gaslight feminism. "Lean in" feminism. Marketplace feminism. It's nonsense, basically. "Oh here's a woman and she's in charge, how feminist."
There's lots to like about Janeway. The Katherine Hepburn vibe really does it for some people. I would be remiss not to mention her great-looking arms, beloved by lesbians everywhere. I think Mulgrew is the only captain who nails her performance in the first season, and she did it under somewhat shitty circumstances - coming in late after the previous actor bailed, having people fuck about with her hair all the time, being away from her kids, etc.
This does not mean everyone has to like her. Voyager has always had problems with character arcs (namely in not deciding if it wants to have them), and its not surprising that complaint would be amplified with the character who gets most screentime. For me, I find it jarring that Janeway goes back and forth between someone who is immovable on her Starfleet ideals one week, and someone who will bend the rules beyond all recognition the next. Whichever direction she's going in, there's never any humility and precious little reflection. She mistakes overconfidence for strength.
I don't like her "mentoring" relationship with Seven. It seems to me that Janeway is trying to remake Seven in her own image, rather than letting Seven figure out who she is for herself. I don't like the decision Janeway makes to work with the Borg (and yes I feel it's justified to call it genocide). I do not like the Tuvix resolution. I don't like her decision that the giant PTSD machine they find in one episode should be left in tact to traumatise more people. I know people will disagree with me on some or all of these things and that's fine, but to conclude that someone must be misogynist to dislike these actions is just a bizarre argument.
Do you really think nobody is looking at Picard like "are you really gonna let that whole planet of people die out, baldo?" You've never heard anyone complain about Sisko poisoning a planet because some guy wouldn't shut up about Les Miserables? You really think Trek fans, one of the most overanalytical fandoms you can imagine, has never been able to find fault with James T Kirk? We don't need to turn to misogyny for an explanation here, people judge Janeway cos she does bad things.
I'm sure some people don't like her just because she's a woman. Probably. The reality is Voyager never faced the kindness of "it's wokeness out of control" backlash that new Trek shows have faced. Fan hysteria in those days did not compare. I remember nobody complaining about a woman captain and everyone saying "this is boring."
My point is: a woman with power is not an inherently feminist thing. What did Janeway do for the women in the Delta quadrant? Did you see her ask even once about why we never saw any Kazon women? Does she even notice that most of the aliens societies in the Delta quadrant seem highly patriarchal? Nah, it's not enough to simply be doing what a guy would be doing if you weren't there. And your mileage may vary on that, but stop calling people misogynists just for having higher standards it just makes you look at very unserious person.
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