ST:TNG The Offspring

[beccaelizabeth]

I have watched ten minutes of this episode and have to stop and be annoyed.

They've just created Lal, and what's its first lesson in how to be a person?

LAL: Gender female.
TROI: That's right, Lal. Just like me.
LAL: Gender male.
DATA: Correct.
LAL: I am gender neuter. Inadequate.
DATA: That is why you must choose a gender, Lal, to complete your appearance.

How many assumptions packed in to there?
They take Lal to the holodeck and choose between several thousand different appearances, from multiple species, but what is not an option? Being an android shaped neuter being. Cannot just exist, must imitate, within a binary structure where the first most important thing is gender.

And then that gender is for life?

Why?

It's terrible science fiction and deeply annoying on the level of unexamined assumptions. They have the technology to change every aspect of their appearance as often as they wish, Lal more than anyone, but they start Lal off by saying to pick one fixed appearance for life, off a set menu. Gah!



First time I watched it none of this even vaguely occurred to me. I grew up with the same 'of course' sets. It's just wrong.

Comments

[frith]

Isn't that what identity is? A fixed appearance? And is changing your appearance, like when wearing a mask, an attempt to hide or change your identity? It's easier for us to identify Lal if it has a fixed appearance. It would be antisocial, at least for humans, if only Lal knew who it was.

The whole gender thing is bogus. A sexless android should not be compelled to ape that sexist subtext.

[jumpuphigh]

That never occurred to me when watching either but I haven't watched TNG in many, many, many years. Now, just reading that dialogue makes me cringe.

[baronjanus]

Classic good ol' media, pushing in the binary and the hegemony. Ugh. "Inadequate" yo mama, stupid writers.

[aurorra.livejournal.com]

And then that gender is for life?

Why?


A: So at some point it can have sex with someone to give the core audience of American men a thrill.