White Feather
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read

I have never, ever, ever in my entire many decades of life ever seen an episode of Doctor Who. I have never in my life seen an episode of Battlestar Gallactica. I have never seen a Star Trek movie or TV episode. As a teenager I stood in line to watch the very first Star Wars movie in theaters back in the 1970s and I was so uninspired that I’ve never watched another Star Wars movie.

I hereby come out of the closet and admit that I am not a geek. I am not a nerd. I can’t stand science fiction. And you would have to shoot me dead before I ever dress up in some idiotic science fiction costume in order to go to a party.

Yes, I’m one of THOSE people; an anti-geek. That very first Star Wars movie back in the 1970s turned me off to science fiction forever. That movie was the biggest male-centric sausage fest in cinematic history. Almost 2,000 people were involved in the making of that movie and out of all those people only one was female (Carrie Fisher). It was a movie that reinforced every male stereotype that existed, it was a movie that perpetuated the good versus evil zeitgeist that continues to keep humankind from advancing spiritually (much like religion). It was a movie that played to male adolescent angst and left countless hundreds of thousands of males masturbating furiously in private to images of Princess Leah. Like the Bible, it perpetuated the superiority of male angst above all other angsts.

While males all over the world were playing with each other’s light sabers, females were left only with the hope of being some princess that all these males were masturbating to. In this respect, Star Wars was not much different than Disney. (How fitting that Disney now owns the rights to Star Wars.)

When I read that the new Doctor Who (whoever that is) is going to be a woman I was very temporarily happy. Go females! But after thinking about it for a minute I wondered, “Is this just inviting the females into the testosterone-drenched basements where all the male geeks live just to further the testosterone-drenched archetypes that science fiction perpetuates? Is it their way of saying that it is okay to allow a female to come into their geek world to watch them masturbate?”

Provided that they are macho and further all the male-geek stereotypes that science fiction perpetuates? Inviting a female into a science fiction story is like asking a female to come into a male locker room.

Personally, being male, I can’t stand to be in a testosterone-dripping male locker room. I can’t imagine how a female can be comfortable in one.

But I’m not a geek so I guess I really don’t know…..

How about a true female world leader? President of the United States perhaps? President of Russia perhaps? Leader of China even? Someone who can affect actual change rather than someone who just steps into a male role in order to perpetuate male stereotypes? Can actresses stepping into male roles to further male thinking change anything or do we need real females stepping into real roles? Does one lead to another or is it just an acquiescence to perceived female pressure? Can we make that real step? Are we ready? Are we ready to go beyond the testosterone-drenched world of sci-fi and make real changes in the real world? Are we trying to change sci-fi rather than trying to change the real world? Will humankind ever leave the male locker room?

Just wondering….