The Psychology of the Kirk/Spock Relationship

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Title:	The Psychology of the Kirk/Spock Relationsip
Creator:	Ann T. Dickson
Date(s):	1982
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:	gender roles, sex, K/S
External Links:	first page
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The Psychology of the Kirk/Spock Relationship is 3-page essay by Ann T. Dickson published in 1982 in the zine Organia. It was accompanied by a single piece of art by Gayle F.

In it, she explores the appeal and psychology behind the Kirk/Spock relationship, and its parallels in the female experience.

Some Major Points from the Essay

With the emergence of gay rights activism, society was ready for it.

Fandom was ready for it. Trekfen tend to be social liberals and their fiction reflects these beliefs.

The fiction developed from a focus on the episodes and action/adventure themes to relationship stories with a hurt/comfort theme, and then to fiction with even more intensity, those with a sexual element between Kirk and Spock.

Wish fulfillment and explicit Mary Sues also played a part, further paving the way.

It's great pornography/erotica between two attractive men.

Some Excerpts

There has been much debate in fandom concerning the controversial "Kirk/Spock Premise." There have been arguments for and against its feasibility, morality, legality and literary quality. But very few comments have been directed toward the aspect that most intrigues me — its psychology.

What is the appeal of this sub-genre of STAR TREK literature to its devoted audience? Like most STAR TREK fen who read, write or publish zines, the majority of K/St fans are well-educated women in their twenties and thirties. Most of them seem to be heterosexual. Few are militant gay rights activists. Why then does K/S continue to be a major element of fan fiction? In this article I would like to explore some of the possible reasons, both social and psychological, that may contribute to interest in K/S.

As character development and rising audience tolerance levels demanded increased intensity in relationship stories, there came a point where simple friendship just wasn't enough. One purpose of having the characters express their feelings for each other was to demonstrate the value of what they shared. The measure of their feelings was not only in the amount of pain they would endure for each other but also in their willingness to overcome their natural reticence to express their emotions. (This was especially true for Spock, but also for Kirk as it contradicted his macho image.) In the beginning, small gestures — a touch on the arm or Spock's using Kirk's first name — indicated intense emotion. As we saw the relationship develop we assumed that it became easier for them to share their feelings of affection and that required continuously more elaborate means of expression. Eventually sexual en counter was necessary to prove their love was extraordinary.

In the romantic stories, the difficulty of finding an appropriate wife for Spock or Kirk was becoming apparent. Their careers aboard the Enter prise precluded a traditional domestic arrangement. The Girl of the Week, who assumed deep emotional significance in an extraordinarily brief period, seemed contrived. Romances with other series regulars failed or succeeded according to the writer's talents rather than an innate sense of the 'right-ness' of a particular pairing. Some lovers appeared to have been created for the sole purpose of fulfilling a need for comfort or understanding that our heroes could just as easily have satisfied for each other.

What then are the issues or problems we are trying to resolve in K/S literature? The possibilities are, of course, limited only by the imaginations of the authors, but some ideas appear fairly obvious: sex and our preferences in making love, how to form and maintain a lasting commitment, the relationship between sex and friendship.

Another approach is to consider the themes that tend to recur frequently in K/S stories and relate these themes to our lives. Pon farr can be a neatly-packaged rape fantasy particularly the Mirror Universe versions. It is violent, uncontrollable and perpetrated by some one we/Kirk adore. We/Spock also have the advantage of doing the raping should we so prefer. Dominance/submission is the main question here and one that is extremely important to modern women. When should we insist on control? When would we prefer to surrender? For what reasons? What are the repercussions of who is in "command"? (Pon farr automatically reverses the usual Kirk/Spock power relationship.)

Hurt/comfort plays a role in this. From "Amok Time" on. Spook has been portrayed as connecting pon farr with fear of ard guilt over injuring his Captain, often to the point of self-sacrifice. This gives Kirk the opportunity to be noble and self-sacrificing in turn. The is sues? Selfishness vs. altruism; the balance be tween self-gratification and providing for our partner's needs; exorcising irrational guilt feelings over situations we could not control.

One major source of guilt in Western cultures is a result of traditional values that equate sexuality with sin. This is obvious in child-rearing practices that greet sex play with shock and sexuality in general with embarrassed silence. As a result, many adults continue to believe "tasting of the forbidden fruit" is a transgression worthy of punishment. Hurt/comfort conveniently provides the punishment prior to the pleasure.

I don't want to omit the most obvious appeal of K/S to women — sex. K/S is great pornography! (Excuse me, authors — "adult literature.") Both Spook and Kirk are extremely attrac tive men and choosing only one of them is a dif ficult decision. In K/S stories, by simply switching our identification back and forth be tween the characters (many writers do this for us by changes in point of view) we can have both men at the same time. Playboy and its cousins have long known that Lesbianism is a sexual turn-on for many men. It would seem that male homosexuality serves the same purpose for women.

There is another aspect of this: jealousy.

Females in Western society are taught very early to be intensely competitive in one area — winning and keeping a man. This may not be entirely societal; a pregnant woman has certain evolutionary advantages in having the assured protection of a mate. A young girl defines her sexuality by competing with her mother for her father's affections. In any healthy resolution of the conflict, the girl loses, of course, leading to identification with mother and eventual sexual maturity. But a lingering side-effect may well be a sub-conscious assumption that any other woman, no matter how well beloved, is always a potential rival. So if we are sexually attracted to Kirk and Spock, but know that we can not win them, we aren't going to let any other woman have them, either (which, incidentally, explains why Mary Sue is so gratifying to her creator and so unbearable to everyone else).

The attraction of the K/S relationship (I'm not talking only about the physical aspects) is that it is special, unique, deeper and purer than the friendships most people are ever able to form. If Kirk and Spock could estab lish this kind of rapport with other people, the original bond would no longer be unique or extra ordinary. It would lose the very elements that endear it to us. Yet Kirk is unquestionably a sexual being and Spock is bound by a biological imperative that eventually will require him to take a mate. The choices then are: 1) marry one or both of them into a relationship that is less than ideal by virtue of the fact that they have already found something incomparable with each other; 2) Devalue the K/S relationship by allowing them to recreate the same intensity with others; or 3) take the K/S premise to its ultimate conclusion and let them live happily ever after.

Fan Comments

Has anyone read the article on the psychology of K/S in ORGANIA? Like every other article of its kind I've read, it seems to miss what is probably the most important factor: the very strong reader identification with Kirk or Spock. No other explanation of K/S and its popularity is really necessary.