Femininity In Star Trek, The USS Enterprise

Criminal Minds is a popular TV show focused on an elite team of FBI profilers that identify and try to take down some of the country’s craziest criminals. The main characters of the show consist of three male characters and three female characters. The gender roles vary throughout the show but generally the men are the ones taking the risks. The woman, on the other hand, are generally gathering intel or trying to be a calming voice to get a criminal to cooperate, but on the rare occasion, they are also at a standoff trying to take down the criminal. When taking a quick glance at the show Criminal Minds you notice that each character generally follows the normal gender roles, but each character has a few traits that go against the normal gender roles.

Most qualities revered in people are subjective, and leadership is one of these traits. However, does not have to be a symptom of anything negative and in fact, allows for an every human being to revere a unique person if they so wanted. A few specific people have garnered much attention in the recent centuries for their works and endeavor, among them a man who is commonly said to be one of the forefathers of science fiction television. Rod Serling, the creator of the Twilight Zone, was a visionary man who turned hardships into stories that would influence those before and after death. While not the typical leader, due to him not being a political figure or leader of a country his impact on culture, specifically pop culture, cannot be brushed

The second pattern that the show demonstrates is the dominance of heterosexuality and heterosextual privilege. All the character in the show are in a heterosexual relationship which are reflected in the nature of the space that they occupy. In the workplace and within the household the representation of heteronormative culture dominates. There is no representation of homonormative spaces or other sexual minorities in the show. The third pattern that the show demonstrates is gender performance. West and Zimmerman refer to gender performance as “doing gender” which will be later discussed in the next section. Due to the strong heteronormative nature of the show, the pattern of explicit gender performances are portrayed through clothing, behaviors, and interactions.These patterns are all related to specific locations in which each of the genders occupies. It is through this segregation of genders that the show perpetuates societal norms that support heteronormative culture and result in gender inequalities.

     Let's talk more specifically about the Next Generation series. The Original series showed the four starring male roles to provide everything for the crew. This is not the case in Next Generation. Next Generation is more like a family with a father, a mother and children. But who were the biggest members of the family? There are four characters, which give the presence of a family on Next Generation.

Christina Hawthorne is the Chief Nursing Officer of Richmond Trinity Hospital in the first season of the television series Hawthorne. This character contains many exemplary characteristics any trusted nurse should possess, and she loves her job depite all the long hours she puts in. First, nurse Hawthorne is extremely passionate about her job and she has strong beliefs about nearly everthing she does around the hospital. Her passion is displayed many times throughout the series, but it clearly stands out when she refuses to fire any of her nurses when she believes they are all needed. Despite what her CEO demands of her, she remains loyal her passionate beleifs that the best way to handle the situation is to lower wages rather than firing staff.

While watching the “Ladies Room” episode of Mad Men, a lot of traditional gender roles were portrayed. Gender roles are often defined as how a society defines how women and men should think and behave. Men are often taught to show instrumental qualities, such as competitiveness, dominance, and confidence, while women exhibit more expressional qualities, such as empathy and sensitivity. The Mad Men episode started off with a man showing dominance by being demanding towards a waitress. While at work, the men competed against each other all while messing around and having fun at work. Women in the episode expressed themselves by gossiping and showing feelings towards others.

Moonstruck is about an Italian family living in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout the movie an image of the moon shows up in a lot of scenes. This image becomes symbolic as the movies goes on. The moon is known for many things, but two things that the moon is known for in this movie that it can be a feminine symbol and it can control love. The symbolism behind the play ties in with the themes of the movie very well.

I decided to approach the topic of gendered spaces online by focusing on video game culture, the “gamer” identity, and the Gamergate controversy, using videos of Anita Sarkeesian, an online harassment victim, to support it.

An interesting depiction of femininity is in Jamie Hewlett’s 1988 Tank Girl, where Rebecca Buck, or Tank Girl, is presented as untraditionally feminine. Her appearance is definitely a challenge to the typical comic book girlish look, which are usually long hair and a curvy figure. Tank Girl instead wears outfits that are chaotic with wacky colors and symbols, all while brandishing weapons and having a sly smile. This combination of femininity with a masculine streak where she flaunts her body while acting gross, makes her appear as a overwhelmingly punk rock empowered woman.

The Crew: Other than Commander Lewis, very little is said about the crew which includes Martinez, Beck, Johanssen and Vogel.

The gender inequality exists in the show; men and women work for different reasonings. Men like Don Draper and his fellow co-workers are there for power, money, and status. Women like Joan likes to be the queen bee; she acts as the head honcho of all the women in the workplace. Joan is a very strong female character for time of sexism. Though she gives direction to people like Peggy to work and keep themselves busy and really to find a husband in the long as she says to Peggy that if you work hard enough, you do not need to work another day and you will be in another country referring to finding a wealthy man to marry. As Joan shows Peggy around on her first day, she lets Peggy know that Don is not necessarily looking for a secretary but rather a mix of a mother and a waitress.

I think the feminism is not the main point of the film, although there indeed are several feminism scenes and ideas presented in the film. From Starling walking by many men in training course to she dodging and parrying in the fighting class where everyone around her was male, though many women were in the organization, the film intentionally depicted Starling as the only woman, creating an image of a woman striving to succeed in a world dominated by males. It seems like all the achievements she made would be not possible without Lector’s help, the assistance from a man who served as her mentor. However, instead of saying that Lector helped her and they were in a teacher-student relationship, I think the there is more likely a mutually profitable

are now taking. A prime example of this can be seen in T & T2 in

Not comparing seems to be a difficult thing to do in our society. People love to comment on differences and there is always a right and a wrong way to do something. To fit into the male and female boxes, a person has to meet the standard of each gender’s respected checklist. For example in Courage Under Fire, Lt. Serling asked Rady’s wife why she disliked Captain Walden, and her response was “she was so butch.” A characteristic that represents a male attribute was used as a slur against a woman. According to Rady’s wife,

The role of both genders just becomes a bit blur where women work equal across professions with men. Men are also allowed to be sensitive. The United Kingdom had a score of about sixty two. Therefore they try to be somewhere in the middle. Men and women can work equally with each other although a bit of gender bias may still exist. This bias may not be as apparent if the score was a fifty but because it exceeds a little more than fifty it shows that it is an underlying bias maybe just below the surfaces. When relating this to a more business aspect in a high masculinity score the leader of the team should be a male if you wanted to obtain greater success however in a low masculinity score the team should be more balanced with a greater emphasis on skill instead of on gender.