Return to Star Trek Classic main page Talk directly to Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) Trivia (click here): what is t name of the captain Help rescue Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) from slavery! (click here) TV-Commentary - Star Trek Classic How Vulcans keep their women in line with finger sex Romulan and Vulcan societies are portrayed as being more friendly to women's rights. In "The Enterprise Incident" we see our first woman captain, the Romulan Commander. She is strong and capable in her role. Unfortunately, however, she is too easily seduced by Mr. Spock. The Vulcans put women in a better light; in "Amok Time" we meet T'Pau, a higher up in the Vulcan matriarchy who presides over Spock's trial-by-combat wedding ceremony. We do not know her precise title, but we do know she was important enough to turn down a seat on the Federation Council, and Kirk seems to hold her in awe. T'Pau, while enforcing Vulcan ritual law to the letter in forcing Kirk to fight Spock, is not entirely unsympathetic, and the fact that she is in charge says volumes about the possibilities about women. Here we have the Vulcan society, where rules are based on what is most logical. "Logic" also implies efficiency, and efficiency implies that promotions are made strictly according to merit. And T'Pau does a good job. She can do the Vulcan hand salute, she can quote Vulcan family law by heart, she knows when to issue the whips and pikes to Kirk and Spock, and she knows how to keep her hefty Vulcan assassin guards on a tight leash.This shows the audience that if promotions were strictly according to merit that more qualified women like T'Pau would be in positions of authority. It also suggests that Vulcans don't have hangups about having women in charge. In the US, only a small fraction of US Representatives, Senators, and Governors are women, perhaps because many men and even some women aren't prepared to be governed by females. But "Amok Time" shows that Vulcans have gotten beyond those hangups, and are prepared to be lead purely on the basis of merit. Unfortunately, what Star Trek gavith in "Amok Time" Star Trek takith away in "Journey to Babel". In that episode we meet Spock's parents, the Vulcan Sarek and the human Amanda. Amanda is portrayed as being subservient to Sarek. When Sarek and Amanda are offered a tour of the ship, Sarek declines but tells Kirk, "But my wife will take the tour" without even consulting her. In fact, even after he leaves, Amanda reminds Kirk about the need to go on the tour, implying that Sarek would get upset if she disobeyed his command. Sarek dominates Amanda in these in other ways. Later on in the episode, when Amanda gets upset that Sarek is accused of murder, Sarek resorts to the carrot instead of the stick, using calculated doses of finger sex to keep her in line. (Editorial note: we never see Vulcan's wearing gloves or shaking hands. Is that because the experience would be too erotic for them?) This would seem to imply that while Vulcan women can be in charge in family court and death matches, they are not the equal of their male peers in the bedroom. Still, given Classic Trek's dismal record regarding the status of women, Vulcan women definitely have a leg up compared to their Federation counterparts. Click here to post a message        Spock posts on 4/30/2008 5:23:54 PM You do realize that these episodes were written in the 1960s...right? Perhaps you should keep that in mind.        rand posts on 1/27/2006 10:52:07 PM i have another theory about this pon far matter. it is quite obvious that vulcan men are not in their right minds during their time of the decade. i believe the women use this weakness to gain power over their men by making them promise to sign over all their wealth and possessions to them where they will have control over the daily running of the household and the finances. in this fashion, at least in the privacy of the home, they would be equals. take care. Click here to post a message Other Recent Star Trek Classic Discussions Getting to know the Horta Spending quality time with Abe Lincoln and Sureck Another look at the Galileo 7 Ultimately, did Vejur really want to be fixed up on a blind date? Nomad seeks perfection.... "The Naked Time"--an episode of the evils of alcohol? 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