Sexism in Star Trek - Here be SPOILERS.
A big tip o' the hat to IDICLOVE for about a third of this ... [and Nicole for the thumbnail]
A prime example of STiD's sexism [besides the infamous undies scene]? The conference at SFHQ. Oh! I know! All the female admirals and starship captains were out of the sector!
It was also an example of species-ism: the only two aliens besides Spock were a Vulcan female and a really alien alien.
And racial exclusion: there was one person of color there besides the captain of the Bradbury.
Why the miniskirts, for example? WTF is that about? Oh yeah, catch the eye of the big young mens, because they're the prime demographic for haha TENTPOLE movies.
There is no rank and lotsa flesh on display when women wear the minidresses. Two implications here: women are so few that, for example, someone seeing Uhura, not knowing her name, but knowing she's from Enterprise, would know who she is, and her rank? Second: it's just fine for the women to display their bodies in military uniform. But the men are covered up. What if Spock wanted to show his awesome abs? Or Kirk, his outstanding arm muscles? Would they wear an open shirt, or a sleeveless one, respectively? Of course not!
The women's minidress uniform needs pips, bars, or stripes. This could be accomplished with epaulets, for god's sake. How hard is that? Even in TOS, the sexist-est of the sexist Treks, the women got to wear rank stripes on their sleeves, unless they were ensigns.
Were the ST2009 folk just "hearkening back" to TOS for reminiscence's sake, or were they continuing its sexism for today's youth? Do teenaged girls really need another example of underdressed women working with fully clothed "big strong mens"? [I also think about the unprofessional decolletage on display on women police detectives, lawyers &c. in contemporary settings. Is it really like that in the real world?]
[quotes/paraphrase of IDICLove] And why does everyone focus on Uhura's emotionalism in the movie? Think about it. Kirk violated the Prime Directive because of an emotional attachment to his friend Spock. Khan shot up HQ because he was enraged by Marcus’s use of him. Kirk was angry with Spock for reporting the truth about Nibiru. Spock and Kirk gave Pike attitude because they were -- well because Kirk was defensive and emotional. Pike was angry with Kirk, justifiably in view of Kirk's lying on a report. Marcus was angry with Starfleet. Kirk was angry about Pike's death and took an entire starship off into space to seek revenge.
I don't have a problem with emotionalism in movies, novels, or any other fictional media. Emotions move the characters to act, which moves the story forward. Khan's rage was the central motivating force of STiD, engendering much action [much of it rather rash on Kirk's part]. Marcus's anger and fear propelled Khan into his murderous rage, &c.
So apparently it's okay for men to go around destroying things and killing people because of their emotions. But lordy, let a woman show emotion under inappropriate circumstances, and she's meat for critics.
I could go on and on, but pitch in, let's pitch a hissy fit [as Uhura's been accused of doing for showing love and concern] and show our love for Star Trek, and S/U!
And let's talk solutions.
I'm really thinking I should send a letter to Orci/Kurtzman.
Hope I'm not wearing out my "discussion" welcome.