Star Trek: A Woman's Sexual Sanctuary?
Feb. 11th, 2019 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muenchjack_00A woman’s sexuality is sacred, but in today’s society, it’s become increasingly difficult for women to truly express their sexuality without being portrayed as sexual objects themselves. It comes to the point where women are graded by how they look, what physical features they possess, and even how sexually experienced they are. All these questions describe women purely as sexual objects and not the human beings they actually are. Given this, it’s no wonder that so many women bear so much worry about the way themselves, as females, are viewed. There must be some escape from this barrage where a woman can truly express her sexuality. Where is it? A large majority have found that sexual escape in the world of Star Trek fanfiction, particularly slash fanfiction. One particular example of this sexual exploration is displayed in the Star Trek slash fanfic “What Happens When You Disobey” by user DuncanByrne. It’s through fanfiction, such as this, that women can explore sexual fantasies in a safe way without sexualizing themselves.
The summary listed at the beginning of the piece immediately hints at the sexual abuse that is going to come: “Little Jim is going to get what he deserves from his master…”
(DuncanByrne). We open with Spock bolstering a menacing grin in front of Kirk who appears hand-cuffed to a contraption. The fic goes into graphic detail of Kirk’s abused physical state. His filth is described with lines such as “drips of sweat were oozing from his armpits… a stream of dried urine caked his inner thighs… his hips marked with red welts... brown smear on his buttocks from the shit he’d been unable to keep in hours ago” (DuncanByrne). The fic has nothing to hide. Spock is in complete control of Jim whose frustration only grows as he dons a chastity belt. The use of vivid imagery allows the audience to imagine the pain and disgust he feels as he must do what his Master, Spock, says. Kirk professes to Spock that he will no longer misbehave, but Spock does not care. Spock proceeds to spank Kirk, and eventually rapes him with explicit detail. The fic describes Spock “sliding in and out through Jim’s filth with ease from the slippery lubrication of his own shit” while “placing his hand back on Jim’s cock with urgent tugs and grabs” (DuncanByrne). It’s at this point where we finally understand what Kirk has done to deserve this; “Will you seek out other men’s cocks after this experience? Will this behavior persist?” (DuncanByrne) he asks. Jim insists “No” as he apologizes to his Spock for his disloyalty and begs him to continue. As Spock finishes, he decides to suck and drink “boyishly sweet cum out of [Kirk’s] penis” (DuncanByrne) and reaffirms that Kirk shall never let another man please him again.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: What kind of twisted, graphic fantasy was that? I completely understand because that’s what I saw the first time I read it too. However, beyond the gruesomely detailed graphic imagery lies a much greater purpose to the idea of slash fanfiction. In her essay Pornography by Women for Women, with Love, author Joanna Russ answers the question: Why is fanfiction important? I’ll tell you for certain that the reasons hold far more importance than what’s being taken at face-value from the fic above.
Russ describes slash fanfiction as “the only sexual fantasy by women for women that’s produced without control” (Russ 82) It’s difficult to imagine at first, but it’s true; These women are crafting homosexual relationships between characters from a science-fiction television show in order to arouse themselves, but why? It would seem logical that if a heterosexual woman were to desire fantasy they would read those typical female romance novels that actually contain a man and a woman. However, what is portrayed in these novels is not a real relationship, it’s an inequity between the man and the woman. In these novels, the man is the one who always holds the power, making the woman seem insignificant and powerless. It’s for these reasons that many women prefer to write their fantasies into homosexual relationships, especially in different universes such as Star Trek. It allows a woman to distance herself from the inequality of real relationships while allowing her to indulge in her true fantasies.
However, that being said, it still does not justify the brutality and the graphic nature of such fan-fiction. If women are writing about their own fantasies, then, given the fanfic we just witnessed, are you telling me that rape is what they want? No, kind reader, actual rape is not what they want and neither is the “shit” or the “filth” that the fic describes, although some may actually enjoy that aspect of it. As Russ professes, “masochistic rape fantasies have bedeviled the women’s movement for a decade as if they were a literal representation of what women want” (Russ 93). Women may not enjoy the idea of rape, but rather the idea of being overpowered and becoming irresistible to a man. That’s what the idea of “What Happens When You Disobey” portrays. It’s the idea of being overpowered and eventually losing yourself solely in another person that is such a turn-on for many women.
Women may fantasize about masochism, but if it’s made between a woman and a man, society may easily misconstrue what women want and take the fantasy as fact. Star Trek fanfiction allows women to express their sexual desires in a safe way without sexualizing themselves in the process and without society taking these fantasies out of context. Maybe even some women enjoy actually being sexually overpowered but they fear this idea of being overpowered will carry over outside their sexual lives and into their normal lives, and in many ways it unfortunately has. Attaching their fantasies to vastly different circumstances disguises them from being taken as fact. For many women, this is their safe sexual escape.
Why does it have to be like this in this in the first place? A woman’s sexuality is something that she should be able to comfortably express without fear of it having repercussions. While we might not have this yet, we surely do have fanfics like “What Happens When You Disobey” that allow these sexual feelings, however unique they may be, to be expressed. We have quite a way to go before women don’t have to fear how their sexuality will affect their public image. Hopefully that day will come soon enough, but for the time being, women, let Star Trek be your sexual sanctuary.
The summary listed at the beginning of the piece immediately hints at the sexual abuse that is going to come: “Little Jim is going to get what he deserves from his master…”
(DuncanByrne). We open with Spock bolstering a menacing grin in front of Kirk who appears hand-cuffed to a contraption. The fic goes into graphic detail of Kirk’s abused physical state. His filth is described with lines such as “drips of sweat were oozing from his armpits… a stream of dried urine caked his inner thighs… his hips marked with red welts... brown smear on his buttocks from the shit he’d been unable to keep in hours ago” (DuncanByrne). The fic has nothing to hide. Spock is in complete control of Jim whose frustration only grows as he dons a chastity belt. The use of vivid imagery allows the audience to imagine the pain and disgust he feels as he must do what his Master, Spock, says. Kirk professes to Spock that he will no longer misbehave, but Spock does not care. Spock proceeds to spank Kirk, and eventually rapes him with explicit detail. The fic describes Spock “sliding in and out through Jim’s filth with ease from the slippery lubrication of his own shit” while “placing his hand back on Jim’s cock with urgent tugs and grabs” (DuncanByrne). It’s at this point where we finally understand what Kirk has done to deserve this; “Will you seek out other men’s cocks after this experience? Will this behavior persist?” (DuncanByrne) he asks. Jim insists “No” as he apologizes to his Spock for his disloyalty and begs him to continue. As Spock finishes, he decides to suck and drink “boyishly sweet cum out of [Kirk’s] penis” (DuncanByrne) and reaffirms that Kirk shall never let another man please him again.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: What kind of twisted, graphic fantasy was that? I completely understand because that’s what I saw the first time I read it too. However, beyond the gruesomely detailed graphic imagery lies a much greater purpose to the idea of slash fanfiction. In her essay Pornography by Women for Women, with Love, author Joanna Russ answers the question: Why is fanfiction important? I’ll tell you for certain that the reasons hold far more importance than what’s being taken at face-value from the fic above.
Russ describes slash fanfiction as “the only sexual fantasy by women for women that’s produced without control” (Russ 82) It’s difficult to imagine at first, but it’s true; These women are crafting homosexual relationships between characters from a science-fiction television show in order to arouse themselves, but why? It would seem logical that if a heterosexual woman were to desire fantasy they would read those typical female romance novels that actually contain a man and a woman. However, what is portrayed in these novels is not a real relationship, it’s an inequity between the man and the woman. In these novels, the man is the one who always holds the power, making the woman seem insignificant and powerless. It’s for these reasons that many women prefer to write their fantasies into homosexual relationships, especially in different universes such as Star Trek. It allows a woman to distance herself from the inequality of real relationships while allowing her to indulge in her true fantasies.
However, that being said, it still does not justify the brutality and the graphic nature of such fan-fiction. If women are writing about their own fantasies, then, given the fanfic we just witnessed, are you telling me that rape is what they want? No, kind reader, actual rape is not what they want and neither is the “shit” or the “filth” that the fic describes, although some may actually enjoy that aspect of it. As Russ professes, “masochistic rape fantasies have bedeviled the women’s movement for a decade as if they were a literal representation of what women want” (Russ 93). Women may not enjoy the idea of rape, but rather the idea of being overpowered and becoming irresistible to a man. That’s what the idea of “What Happens When You Disobey” portrays. It’s the idea of being overpowered and eventually losing yourself solely in another person that is such a turn-on for many women.
Women may fantasize about masochism, but if it’s made between a woman and a man, society may easily misconstrue what women want and take the fantasy as fact. Star Trek fanfiction allows women to express their sexual desires in a safe way without sexualizing themselves in the process and without society taking these fantasies out of context. Maybe even some women enjoy actually being sexually overpowered but they fear this idea of being overpowered will carry over outside their sexual lives and into their normal lives, and in many ways it unfortunately has. Attaching their fantasies to vastly different circumstances disguises them from being taken as fact. For many women, this is their safe sexual escape.
Why does it have to be like this in this in the first place? A woman’s sexuality is something that she should be able to comfortably express without fear of it having repercussions. While we might not have this yet, we surely do have fanfics like “What Happens When You Disobey” that allow these sexual feelings, however unique they may be, to be expressed. We have quite a way to go before women don’t have to fear how their sexuality will affect their public image. Hopefully that day will come soon enough, but for the time being, women, let Star Trek be your sexual sanctuary.
