Give Kirk a Break -- Spock's the One Putting Women Back in the Kitchen

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Title:	Give Kirk a Break -- Spock's the One Putting Women Back in the Kitchen
Creator:	Emily Asher-Perrin for Tor.com
Date(s):	May 9, 2011
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:	Star Trek, feminism, gender roles
External Links:	full essay is here
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Give Kirk a Break -- Spock's the One Putting Women Back in the Kitchen is a 2011 essay by Emily Asher-Perrin.

In it, the author uses specific examples from a number of episodes to prove her point. Some of those episodes are "Amok Time", "Wolf in the Fold," "The Enemy Within", "Catspaw," "The Wink of an Eye," and "Journey to Babel." She also uses the movie The Wrath of Khan.

Topics Discussed

• Star Trek: TOS
• gender roles
• attitudes toward sex
• projecting 1960s values on 23rd century men and women

Excerpts

James Kirk: Starship captain, breaker of rules, brilliant gambler (when he creates the game). Drinker of Romulan ale. Chaser of skirts.

Feminist.

Spock: First Vulcan in Starfleet, student of logic, player of the Vulcan harp. Purveyor of reason over emotionality. Respectful gentleman.

Sexist.

Confused yet? Most people think I’m crazy when I bring this up—or at least tell me that I’ve been watching a different show. In the interest of making this perfectly clear, I am not talking about the meta context of Star Trek. The original series was created in the 1960s and sexism is obvious across the board: that the studio wouldn’t accept the female first officer from the original pilot, the mini-skirt uniforms, the fact that you can count on less than one hand the number of times a woman gets to fight, or the fact that most women on board the Enterprise are lower-ranking officers. That’s all without getting into how many alien chicks Captain Kirk has introduced to “the ways of Earth men.” So, yes, original Trek is sexist by virtue of its time.

But Captain Kirk is not.

Kirk’s attitude toward the women he falls in love with are an indication of the exact opposite, in fact. Throughout the series we watch Kirk fall in love with intelligent, strong-willed, unrelenting women. Edith Keeler orders him around her basement and he doesn’t blink an eye. Rayna is undoubtedly smarter than he is, yet Kirk is impressed, not threatened by her. In The Wrath of Khan, we find out about Carol Marcus, a brilliant scientist who is more than capable of going head to head with then-Admiral Kirk. She clearly broke his heart, but he gave her the space she demanded, even at the expense of a relationship with his own son. He still respects Carol Marcus and probably still loves her. That is simply not the attitude of a man who thinks that women are somehow limited or less powerful. It’s true that because William Shatner has a specific sort of delivery that some people find off-putting, there will always be an insistence that Kirk is just out for another notch in his bedpost. But frankly, all the slow smiles and soft intonations are reserved for Spock and Dr. McCoy just as often as they’re used on the ladies. At that point I would start calling it a character trait rather than a specific predatory response to women.

... whenever [Spock] comes in contact with a person of the female persuasion, his recorded mantra should play thusly—Stop Being Such A Hysterical Woman. It’s not his fault, really. Spock grew up on a planet where nearly everyone was devoid of emotion, the one exception being his human mother, Amanda Grayson. So picture this scenario: you live in a place where emotion is something to be ashamed of and oppressed, and the woman who is raising you is the most emotional, irrational person you have ever encountered. If you don’t think that’s going to color the way you view women in general… well, it is. There’s just no two ways about it. Spock may appreciate his mother, love her (despite the fact that it is an unacceptable human emotion), but he is miles away from comprehending her.

While you can make any number of excuses for this scene—the show was gaining its footing in those early episodes and Spock’s character was still in development, those sorts of comments were not as inflammatory back then as they are today—within canon, Spock clearly has some issues. Much as I love him, his attitude toward women makes him out to be pretty unfair to them at least half of the time. Later on in life, Spock appears to achieve a level of balance that would prevent this sort of blatant sexism, but it’s clear that younger Spock had a little growing up to do. This issue can be argued back and forth until the end of time, but I do hope it gives some people pause now. The next time someone rails on Kirk as a conqueror of women, I hope that someone defends him—Kirk’s a romantic in more ways than one and it’s about time he got a little credit for it. Conversely, it might be time for everyone to tell Spock to keep his opinions on terror and evil captains to himself.

Reactions and Comments: Original Post

[roblewmac]:

after puberty I found it a little hard to blame Kirk for a little horniness. He's in DEEP space five years and as a decent guy he doesn't want to bed women under his command. he's LONELY for crying out loud.

[amphibian]:

Some of my favorite Star Trek related things is seeing fans break down exactly how many women Kirk actually had intimacy with during the series and movie.

Essentially it's three or four on-screen during the television series, four or five old flames/women from previous romantic relationships who show up later and some "maybes". Not all that womanizing for a single, wealthy starship captain who travels a ton. I think you're right about Kirk being very respectful, as he's always been respectful of women's wishes - including leaving his own son behind at a space station to be raised by his ex who was boy's mother.

I think Picard has had a similar amount of romantic moments on TNG - although way less compelled kissing occurred.

[Ashley McGee]:

Being a child of the eighties, I did not get a chance to experience the original Star Trek in context. With that school of thought in mind, its very interesting to go back and deconstruct the gender roles in the original series. I knew about the non-female high ranking officers and the fact that Uhura was the only black character until Lavar Burton, but I had no idea Spock's early character was so blatantly cheavanistic. His background notwithstanding, one has to take into account the writing behind Spock's character. The character is set up for that attitude, though in regards to his changes later on, he certainly is the most dynamic character, able to rise above such a petty characterization. Where Jim Kirk is consistent throughout, Spock actually demonstrates a kind of evolution. I hope to explore this further as I get more familiar with the original series.

[Pendard]:

I can't believe you didn't mention Spock's attitude towards Nurse Chapel in "Amok Time." She tries to bring him some soup and he throws the bowl at her head and sends her running out of his quarters. Then when Kirk asks why he did it, he says it's undignified for a woman to serve a man who isn't hers. Basically, he just called her a slut for bringing him a bowl of soup! What a douche! :-)

[Carapace]:

I got hooked on Trek in the 80s and 90s- bless syndication forever- and liked Kirk largely because he seemed so relaxed about women. He didn't treat them like they needed to be protected from ooh scary men and their sex drives, or somehow lost value if they had sex drives too. And he didn't get all sulky when he got shot down (as happens, not infrequently)- he'd just grin and get on with life. I still wish more people would be that mellow about the whole thing. Kirk's behavior is pretty well only sexist if the sex is still seen as a demeaning dirty thing perpetrated by one person on another. If it's just something fun adults can do together, and that's certainly how he acts, then he's doing nothing more than inviting his favored playmates into the game.

[Jaws]:

Because, after all, Kirk is not a 23d-century man; he's a relatively enlightened 1960s man in a 23d-century world (and reading the writer's guide, even for the first season of ST:TOS, makes that abundantly clear).

[Bill]:

I don't blame the author for repeating the myth that the studio wouldn't accept a female XO of the Enterprise, but it has to be corrected. The studio and the network were perfectly fine with, even supportive of having a woman as second-in-command of the starship Enterprise. What they were opposed to was Gene Roddenberry casting his extra-marital girlfriend, herself not a well-known actress, in such a prominent role.

Gene Roddenberry was not afraid of lying to make himself look better; every fan of the first Star Trek series should read Inside Star Trek for an entertaining and insightful retrospective on the production of the show.

That said, I really liked this article; I hadn't considered Spock in this light before, and I appreciate every effort to knock down the refrain of "lol Kirk's just a big horndog, am i rite??" that is too common.

[K R I]:

I appreciate the article--I've tried to make this point as well. I also seem to remember Spock participating in a fight to the death for a woman he then rejects. He's a good illustration of "seemingly rational until . . . " in that lurking Western 50s male kind of way. And perhaps those conflicts were the point. (I agree with the commenter-- the writing for Spock has been frequently abysmal). As for growing, Kirk doesn't need to--he's balanced, in the groove, in a state of grace, which happens to make a sturdy leader if he has a foil. I'm pretty sure that was a point. Thanks again. And yeah, still adore Spock anyway.

[Gnome Chomsky]:

This article was - to borrow a phrase from Mr. Spock - fascinating. However by trying to frame it through the lens of feminism the argument itself became rather strained.

While I can go along with the author's relatively refreshing viewpoint of Captain Kirk, I disagree wholeheartedly with the argument of Spock as a sexist.

Case in point: your refer to Spock's exchange with Sarek regarding his mother. This is not sexist. It has nothing to do with her gender. It has everything to do with her being human and lacking Vulcan training in logic.

Simply put: even other Vulcan females would feel the same way about Spock's mother.

Indeed, if Spock was guilty of anything it is for holding his own mother up to the same standards that he would expect of anyone be they male or female - or - human or Vulcan. This is evidenced by the fact that Spock has made similarly dry quips about Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy.

So the question begs to be asked: why would you expect Spock to treat his mother differently? Because she's his mother? Because she's a woman?

If so, doesn't this sentiment betray one of the fundamental tenets of feminism?

One final point regarding Wolf in the Fold: While the crude dialogue does reflect the kind 60s values that you highlight earlier in the essay, it is not entirely off the mark either. Neurologically women are - indeed - wired differently than men, perhaps a consequence of evolution (along with environment). It's been known that women are twice as likely to suffer from anxiety disorders compared to men.

And while this doesn't speak to the exact intensity of the fear/anxiety that Spock refers to (perhaps he just misspoke or the writers dumbed it down) it doesn't mean it's based on sexist notions of female fragility but rather in scientific evidence.