There have recently been lots of complaints that ‘Stargate: Universe’ is sexist. Frankly I am sick of deplorable sexism in Science Fiction. It isn’t coming from the writer or producers but from the double standard wielding hypocrites in Science Fiction fandom. We had snifters of the same thing about BSG. So many people think SGU is sexist because the characters in it are reacting and behaving like real people rather than the Ancient Greece style heroes that have previously made up the characters of a Stargate show. Rather than having a decade long period of sexual tension that can only exist in fiction the SGU characters just do it and get it out of the way. Now I love Stargate’s SG1 and Atlantis but I’ve never ever expected them to be overly realistic. Sometimes the characters behaved realistically but more often than not the show was Spider-man and Deadpool in space. It was a light show with quite a high level of comedy. SGU is neither of these things.

The entire point of the show is that these people are not equipped to deal with the situation. These aren’t the best of the best military and science personnel humanity has to offer. There is no O’Neill to kick ass, take names while making jokes and Wizard of Oz references. There is no Uber-Jaffa to kill all the bad guys and no language wizard to translate everything into monosyllabic English so everyone can understand it. SGU does have a Universe shattering intellect (something you have to have in Stargate I am afraid) in the cast but unlike Carter or McKay he is batshit crazy. These people are the chaff the Airforce couldn’t dump because they know too much so they had all been put working on a project nobody expected too much from. Otherwise there is just no way Carter and/or McKay wouldn’t be running the project. The show is supposed to be ‘normal’ people reacting in ‘normal’ ways to a horrible situation. In real life some normal people are sexist, perverts, violent, stupid, reactionary, flawed, immoral, insane or weird. Especially when put in extreme situations.

One of the main complaints is that in SGU there was a scene of a female airman/airwoman/airperson/airhumanoid* wearing a tight t-shirt from which protruded her nipples. Once again we are greeted with America’s fantastic obsession over the visibility of female nipples on TV. Apparently a woman with obvious breasts being shown on TV is sexist and, shock horror, the scene involved two nerdy characters spying on her in a state of undress with an alien  floating video camera. Because that wasn’t the first thing everyone watching thought they would be useful for, whether they be Male or female. No complaints that portraying male geeks as being sexually frustrated perverts being sexist either. This very stereotype is moving from trope to cliché at an alarming rate. I guess it is okay to stereotype us in that way. By the way you’re all so fucked if we go all John Galt on you so you should be nicer to us. Nobody was complaining it was sexist in the later series of SG1 when Daniel Jackson was bursting out of his overly tight t-shirt like a Marvel superhero every other scene. A character who was supposedly a humble archaeologist yet had a physique that put ALL the career military and alien super-warrior characters in the show to shame. How is that different to one scene in SGU with the tight t-shirt on a female airman? Both are pure fan service and with very little plot justification. The only difference is the sex of the character in question and the gross double standards of the viewers.

OMG! There was another scene where a female character had a shower. And she took off all her clothes to do it. Can you believe it a woman had a shower in the nude. Luckily she was blurred out by the shower curtain/door and all you could make out is that it was quite possibly a human having a shower. Incidentally was actually the set-up of the relationship between two characters so actually had a point. Eli was prepared to stand on guard (snigger) and refused to attempt to cop an eyeful even though he clearly has a thing for her. While she overtly stated she didn’t see him as a sexual entity by being comfortable enough to go nude. Poor bastard ended up in the ‘friendzone’ before the end of the first season. But apparently that was sexist because she was female and nude and men might be watching.

Who can forget the full frontal female nudity and symbiote possession that seemed disturbingly like rape from the SG1 pilot? That is now conveniently glossed over and nobody is discussing its relation to current complaints. That scene isn’t even in the the re-aired versions of the pilot any more because so many people have found it distasteful (I thought it was good adult writing, plus it had boobies) and not part of the fun image the show later picked up. After all SG1 started off as a much darker and adult show and only really changed when it moved networks. I really hope they don’t do the same to SGU.

Another complaint is that the female characters haven’t had much screen and plot time? This is a show with quite a large cast of regular characters (more than previous Stargate shows) give it a chance to get around to them all before you start complaining. I mean we have had 6 episodes and people are already complaining that the women should have more screen time. Then when the female characters get screen time the complaints come in that they aren’t painted in the best light. Worse still is that some are painted as borderline useless. What? Who is painted in a good light in this show? Who is any good at their jobs? Nobody is, they are all rubbish. Even the audience proxies (Eli & Chloe) are shown to be a immature and have dubious decision making abilities. TJ, the character most people complain as being sexistly (I made that word up) useless isn’t actually useless. The impression that she isn’t very good at her job is actually the character’s own perception which colours all her scenes. She has issues about her competency which if you actually watch don’t match her performance. As the resident medic she has saved several lives and been put in a command position a couple of times. While things haven’t gone to plan she acquitted herself well. She still has her doubts which are being nicely manipulated by the Mad Scientist. Sadly any female failure real or imagined in the show is sexist. They are saying that no matter what women must be shown as powerful, in control, independent super-women? Isn’t that a tad sexist? Men can be bad but not women? Wow!

Yet another complaint is the amount of sex in SGU and that it is sexist. A complaint also levied at BSG. Now Science Fiction fans might not be aware of this but in real life people have sex. Sex is a perfectly normal, natural thing. People have sex quite frequently, believe it or not. People have sex even when the timing, location or their partner is completely inappropriate. In fact put people in highly stressful “Oh god, oh god we are all gonna die” situation and people often turn into humanoid rabbits. People use sex as a weapon, a bargaining tool, a pick me up and as a distraction. None of the characters in SGU are having sex solely to be fan service. Two of the characters have inappropriate sex as their modus operandi. Both are male, one who flunked out of priest training because he couldn’t keep it in his pants and the other has a history of infidelity. Still no complaints of sexism about the fact so many of the male characters are cheating bastards screwing over the innocent women. The lone regular female cast member currently having sex is the Chloe. She lost her father in the pilot. Well not lost they know exactly where he is, he is just dead. Not that out of the ordinary but when you add into the fact she idolised her father far beyond the normal daddy’s little girl levels, spent every day with him and he was not only her father but her mentor and her boss too then you start to get the picture. Who hasn’t seen someone stripped of their life so entirely jump into the sack with first (un)suitable candidate that comes along. Not the geek though. Oh no the nerd is just her friend. You know because nobody can love a fat guy. Which is fine really because, no matter how unpalatable it is to me, many real people actually think and behave that way. The sex in the show is raising at least one interesting question. Is it okay to borrow someone else’s body and have sex with another person without asking the bodies owner first?

Some have said this show is a poor rip-off of the Battlestar Galactica remake. In some ways this is a fair criticism as they have aimed for the same type of show as BSG. They have mixed success but the show is steadily improving and finding its feet. It certainly fills the gap that BSG left in my viewing. And at least in Stargate they do justify their Angels and don’t use them as a Deux Ex Machina to sew up every single plot thread. Some have complained that none of characters in the show are likeable. I don’t agree as Eli is the loveable podgy geek and Chloe is the little girl lost (apparently the presence of such a character archetype in the show is sexist) neither of which you can’t bring yourself to hate. It is interesting that both these stand ins for the audience are having different experiences. For Eli he is still the loser geek who gets the rough end of every stick available while Chloe is getting to throw caution to the wind. Most of the characters are really horrible or flawed people and I’m happy to see the put through the mill. I actually like that. I want to see how they react without cosy feelings towards them clouding my perception. Just like BSG did.

Not surprisingly the show writers have reacted quite angrily to this sexism accusations because they are totally unfair in their eyes (I’m inclined to agree) and throwing about accusations like that can cost people jobs. Frankly the sexism criticism of the show comes entirely from the fact SGU isn’t SG1 or Atlantis and a large portion of the fan base don’t like it because of that. Sexism is purely a stick to beat the show with. Those doing the beating don’t have the balls/flaps/nerve* to admit they don’t like the show because it doesn’t have the same familiar formula. Why? Well because that would make Fry right wouldn’t it.

*Delete as per your level of political correctness dictates.