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By Caroline Nixon:
There are trends and fashions in STAR TREK fanlit, just as much as in other literary fields, and interest today seems to be focusing on the sexual aspect of the Kirk/Spock relationship.
As with most fan stories, the writer of these homosexual love-idylls are women, and I wonder if these ladies realize the full implications of their postulations.
Perhaps we should look into the underlying causes of such a relationship. It is clear to anyone who is well-acquainted with STAR TREK and the Kirk and Spock characters that there is nothing in their physical or psychological makeup that pre-disposes either to seek out a partner of their own sex. There is a little of both sexes in everyone's nature, of course, but both the Captain and his First Officer are unquestionably male-dominant. Kirk reacts immediately and enthusiastically to a pretty female. If Spock reacts with something approaching panic, to any woman who shows interest in him, this loss of equanimity hardly indicates indifference -- to say nothing of the fact that he has gone through pon farr, like any standard Vulcan male.
This point is reflected in the stories, for there is no agreement on which partner takes which role. Opinion is approximately equally divided, one third favoring Kirk for the female role, another third giving Spock that function and the rest letting them take turns.
So why should these two very masculine men fall into bed together? It's obvious that the reasons go beyond the sexual. The bond between them is mental, spiritual and intellectual, not physical. Each represents to the other something infinitely valuable and presumably the wish for closeness to the dear being eventually extends to the desire for bodily union.
So far, so good. But what does all this imply? The answer will become clearer if we take an analogy from the many Terran cultures where men form strong pair-bonds -- the blood-brother relationship, as it is often called. This bond doesn't always include sex relations, but where it does, it's for a certain reason. It happens not because they find the female body distasteful, as true homosexuals do, for psychological or hormonal reasons, but because they can form no lasting mental bond with women, since they are ignorant, trivial and often even dangerous, and the men despise them. (We won't go into whose fault that is!) I'm referring to cultures such as the Spartan civilization, etc., where two warrior-men became lovers, of course, not to decadent cultures where effeminate boys were made use of.
When this analogy is applied to the STAR TREK universe, then, the conclusion is this: Kirk and Spock go to bed together because the sort of women who could give them what they need do not exist. Of course, the solution is very neat -- Kirk and Spock both have the same needs, even though they do show diametrically opposite symptoms; they are very lonely men, and need a companion to share their lives -- a "soul-mate", to use a somewhat hackneyed term. And so they turn to each other.
But this is the easy way out -- a cop-out, ladies, nothing else. A close and sometimes intense relationship with a member of one's own sex is a normal, healthy part of life, one of the important ties one sentient entity will form with another. But it is only one of them. And if the Kirk/Spock relationship blurs into a mate/partner bond, it is purely because the women do not exist who are intelligent enough to understand their needs and subtle enough to be able to fulfill them in a way they can accept (this last is especially important in Spock's case, because of his psychological and cultural inhibitions). This would be a depressing enough thought in real life. In fiction it is even more so -- it means that it is impossible even to conceive of such women. But perhaps it's only to be expected when so many female writers, especially sf authors, feel the need to write almost exclusively about men, because they find their own sex so uninteresting.
The classic "starship officers' wives' lot is not a happy one" argument is just not valid. If children are involved, then sea-faring men's wives have watched and waited throughout history and found it worth their while. And the solution is even simpler if the production of children is delayed -- if a homosexual relationship between crewmembers is not detrimental to ship's discipline then what possible objection could there be to having a wife along, especially if she is a crewmember, too?
So, ladies, gird up your loins (if you know where they are). The time has come for a new confidence in our capabilities. Our sex makes up half the human race, and probably half of all the humanoid races in the galaxy. If the males can produce two such wonderful characters as Kirk and Spock, can't we provide female characters who will be a match for them? I challenge you all -- the honor of our sex is at stake. Act now -- or resign yourselves to being called "the weaker sex" for all eternity -- and deserving it!
There are trends and fashions in STAR TREK fanlit, just as much as in other literary fields, and interest today seems to be focusing on the sexual aspect of the Kirk/Spock relationship.
As with most fan stories, the writer of these homosexual love-idylls are women, and I wonder if these ladies realize the full implications of their postulations.
Perhaps we should look into the underlying causes of such a relationship. It is clear to anyone who is well-acquainted with STAR TREK and the Kirk and Spock characters that there is nothing in their physical or psychological makeup that pre-disposes either to seek out a partner of their own sex. There is a little of both sexes in everyone's nature, of course, but both the Captain and his First Officer are unquestionably male-dominant. Kirk reacts immediately and enthusiastically to a pretty female. If Spock reacts with something approaching panic, to any woman who shows interest in him, this loss of equanimity hardly indicates indifference -- to say nothing of the fact that he has gone through pon farr, like any standard Vulcan male.
This point is reflected in the stories, for there is no agreement on which partner takes which role. Opinion is approximately equally divided, one third favoring Kirk for the female role, another third giving Spock that function and the rest letting them take turns.
So why should these two very masculine men fall into bed together? It's obvious that the reasons go beyond the sexual. The bond between them is mental, spiritual and intellectual, not physical. Each represents to the other something infinitely valuable and presumably the wish for closeness to the dear being eventually extends to the desire for bodily union.
So far, so good. But what does all this imply? The answer will become clearer if we take an analogy from the many Terran cultures where men form strong pair-bonds -- the blood-brother relationship, as it is often called. This bond doesn't always include sex relations, but where it does, it's for a certain reason. It happens not because they find the female body distasteful, as true homosexuals do, for psychological or hormonal reasons, but because they can form no lasting mental bond with women, since they are ignorant, trivial and often even dangerous, and the men despise them. (We won't go into whose fault that is!) I'm referring to cultures such as the Spartan civilization, etc., where two warrior-men became lovers, of course, not to decadent cultures where effeminate boys were made use of.
When this analogy is applied to the STAR TREK universe, then, the conclusion is this: Kirk and Spock go to bed together because the sort of women who could give them what they need do not exist. Of course, the solution is very neat -- Kirk and Spock both have the same needs, even though they do show diametrically opposite symptoms; they are very lonely men, and need a companion to share their lives -- a "soul-mate", to use a somewhat hackneyed term. And so they turn to each other.
But this is the easy way out -- a cop-out, ladies, nothing else. A close and sometimes intense relationship with a member of one's own sex is a normal, healthy part of life, one of the important ties one sentient entity will form with another. But it is only one of them. And if the Kirk/Spock relationship blurs into a mate/partner bond, it is purely because the women do not exist who are intelligent enough to understand their needs and subtle enough to be able to fulfill them in a way they can accept (this last is especially important in Spock's case, because of his psychological and cultural inhibitions). This would be a depressing enough thought in real life. In fiction it is even more so -- it means that it is impossible even to conceive of such women. But perhaps it's only to be expected when so many female writers, especially sf authors, feel the need to write almost exclusively about men, because they find their own sex so uninteresting.
The classic "starship officers' wives' lot is not a happy one" argument is just not valid. If children are involved, then sea-faring men's wives have watched and waited throughout history and found it worth their while. And the solution is even simpler if the production of children is delayed -- if a homosexual relationship between crewmembers is not detrimental to ship's discipline then what possible objection could there be to having a wife along, especially if she is a crewmember, too?
So, ladies, gird up your loins (if you know where they are). The time has come for a new confidence in our capabilities. Our sex makes up half the human race, and probably half of all the humanoid races in the galaxy. If the males can produce two such wonderful characters as Kirk and Spock, can't we provide female characters who will be a match for them? I challenge you all -- the honor of our sex is at stake. Act now -- or resign yourselves to being called "the weaker sex" for all eternity -- and deserving it!
