Star Trek

Nerds are the kings of our culture these days—but what is a nerd, exactly, and who gets to call themselves one? This show digs into gender, race, and nerdery with an organizer of GeekGirlCon, comedy nerd Phoebe Robinson, music nerd turned Yale lecturer Allyson McCabe, and (of course!) a rigorous discussion of feminism in Star Trek with two hardcore Trekkies. Listen in! 

This episode of Popaganda is sponsored by She Bop!

Star Trek has a reputation.

For almost fifty years, the disempowered and the marginalized and the outcasts have held up Star Trek as a show that said, “This is what we can aspire to: a humanity that has evolved beyond inequality and oppression”. The show presents a vision of Earth that has moved beyond racism and classism, beyond ableism and sexism and homophobia. As a life-long Trekkie, it is tempting to agree with this reputation. Me and Star Trek, hand in hand, running through fields of wildflowers on a soft-focus sunny day while I gaze upon them longingly. Oh Star Trek! So progressive! So feminist!

But this reputation is not reality. 

Star Trek: Into Darkness came out this weekend, and like any good Trekkie, I was eager to see the film. And although I came away from doing so feeling satisfied, there was one thing that stuck in my craw.

 

• CNN suspends Roland Martin for his homophobic tweets during the Super Bowl. 
• Civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due died at 72 this week. 
• NPR Fresh Air's interview with Meryl Streep covers her latest role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. 
• Oklahoma Democratic State Senator Constance Johnson offered up a "spilled semen" amendment to the Personhood Bill to "draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity and lack of balance inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women." 
• Racialicious covers the new reality show, Shahs of Sunset, which follows the lives of Iranian-Americans. With the show's producer Ryan Seacrest, it is purpoted to be the "Persian Version" of Jersey Shore. 
• Ellen DeGeneres stands up to One Million Moms who have pressured JC Penny to not use her as a spokeswoman because of her sexual orientation. 
• Nichelle Nichols speaks out about what it was like to be black actress on Star Trek in the '60s. 
• Delta had the first all female African-American flight crew last week. 
• California Proposition 8 was struck down by the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 
• End on a Good Note responds to the backlash M.I.A. received from flipping the bird during her Super Bowl halftime performance. 

Tell us what you have been reading in the comments!

Today I list my top five feminerd annoyances, including the lack of LGBT characters on Star Trek, sexist comics at The Oatmeal, and "chainmail bikini"-type video game costumes for women.

 

One of the things that drives me just a little bit up the wall about disability in pop culture is when creators want to have a disabled character, but don't want that character to have any of the actual consequences of being disabled. This plays out in one of two ways: Either the disability is just there, without any of the attending difficulties, or the disability has been turned into a Super Power. Sometimes, we get both.

I've never seen wheelchair-using Professor X have to actually deal with stairs. He uses his psychic powers to make his wheelchair float.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a gadzillion reasons why I'm not a fan of Barbie dolls, and they all apply to the new Lt. Uhura doll, part of Mattel's upcoming Barbie Doll line being released in conjunction with J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek film.  But there's also a hilariously awesome reason to love these dolls: fanboys are freaking out that they make Star Trek too girlie. 

More after the jump!

What's up with women and film this week?