On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, Cathy Deluca wrote:
> But...
> While the current TV Guide article featuring Dax and Seven of Nine is
> intended to applaud Star Trek for finally featuring strong women, it
> actually masks the objectification of these women and the embodiment of
> unrealistic standards of beauty. It is no coincidence that these very
> popular characters are white, young, tall, and extremely thin. So while it
> is wonderful that Star Trek has several strong female characters, it is not
> surprising that they don't look like you and me. In this respect, Star
> Trek is no different than any other current tv program in which the female
> characters look like they haven't eaten in weeks.
And the TV Guide pictures were particularly awful too. My (photography
professor) husband's take on the cover was that someone had been
airbrushing 7 of 9 within an inch of her life. Also, if you look at the
lighting in the picture of the two women together, there's this weird
light they're using to backlight that shows up in such a way it's shining
from one of the women's crotch areas. Someone trying to go for the
suggestive?
The thing that's always bothered me about Trek's attempts to portray
strong women is that with the exception of Tasha Yar, it took until
Janeway to have a regular strong female who was of mostly human origin.
The impression I got was that by presenting the strong female characters
(Kira, Dax, etc.) as humanoid aliens, they could on one hand offer them up
as strong, intelligent beings, but on the other hand, they weren't really
human women, and weren't as threatening to the old boys club types.
Jill Gillham jilkey@grfn.org http://members.aol.com/~ferndock2
\|/ \|/ D=|[[] "All-arm'd I ride, whate'er betide,
=0: + =0: = \O/ Until I find the Holy Grail."
/|\ /|\ |*| -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson [Go WINGS!]
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