The Outcast


This is a great episode.  I love this episode.  The idea of
reprogramming one's brain to think in terms of he/she all the
time is liberating.  

Freeing of gender sterotypes, because underneath, we are all
human.  Underneath preconceived patterns of
behavior directly associated with gender, underneath even biological,
primary and secondary sex characteristics,
We are all human beings.  We are all the same.
This is exemplified when humans dance: gender differences
fall away: it is not about differences
between male and female, it is 
what people have in common by simply being people.

"We prefer to stay warm by sleeping with a friend --"

So if this implies androgyny without sexual contact or sexual
tension ... then how does the species procreate, multiply?

If they all hang out like peas in a pod, how do they procreate?
Where is the mating dynamic?

"She has to laugh at my jokes --"

The implication that she is secretly female -- implies a hiding
of one's sexuality, a metaphor for what those who are gay have 
gone through for decades, centuries.

"Commander: tell me about your sexual organs."

"The idea of gender, it is offensive to my people --" this is the
metaphor for what gay culture has gone through - the idea of something
different, it is offensive to popular culture.



And yes, this is an 80's hit-you-over-the-head diatribe on the persecution
of homosexuality, but taken on a different level, this is a more subtle
depiction of gender issues and the layered sexualities that go with them.
I just see something more subtle in here.


"Doctor, you are female: what is it like?"
This is a ridiculous conversation to me.  It is hell to be female.
Beverly Crusher should be answering, "it's sheer hell."

--

"Neither." That's a very cool moment.  When Crusher answers, "neither,"
to the question, "is male or female superior?"  Because this is true.
Prevailing atitudes -- that is, brainwashing over thousands of years --
deem one sex is superior to the other.  It's sheer dogma, sheer religious
indoctrination.  Whatever species is in power imposes attitudes that make
others "lesser", simply because they are in power.  The attitutes are
completely arbitrary.

--

(Riker and Soren in sickbay:)
The chemistry between them (Riker and Soren) is unmistakable.  They can
just stand together and the chemisry is there. 

--

Worf: "The Jenai -- they bother me --" this is *hilarious* --
The idea that someone is bothered by someone simply existing ...



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