Fuck Yeah Uhura

abrokensail:

spockanduhura:

timeofthedecade:

I can’t win.

Here’s what I posted in response to some anon hate earlier about why I dislike the new Uhura. Enjoy.

Abrams had a chance to do something special with Uhura. Throughout the original series, she commanded respect without needing to put anyone…

timeofthedecade:

I can’t win.

Here’s what I posted in response to some anon hate earlier about why I dislike the new Uhura. Enjoy.

Abrams had a chance to do something special with Uhura. Throughout the original series, she commanded respect without needing to put anyone down. She had her own voice - she was independent and strong-willed. Sure, she sometimes flirted, but it was always for fun or to get something she needed (such as in the Mirror, Mirror episode). When she flirted with Spock in the first season, it was quickly followed up with her criticizing him for not reacting to Kirk’s possible injury or death. She had her priorities straight.

Enter Abrams. It seems he saw that one episode and thought, “well, let’s modernize that 30 seconds of Uhura right there.” And he did so poorly. He introduced her not as a character, but as a body. Kirk came into a bar and lusted after her. A fight started because he and a number of other men wanted to sleep with her. She does nothing to prevent this.

Later, she strips to her underwear for no particular reason before chasing Kirk from her room. She then proceeds to blackmail Spock into letting her onto the Enterprise (because she feels entitled to it), where the only useful thing she does is distinguish between Vulcan and Romulan and reference a transmission she overheard - but only when prompted by Kirk.

She makes out with Spock after the death of his mother, when he’s vulnerable and doesn’t need emotions being thrown his way (hello? Touch telepath, anyone?). Then she makes out with him again before he infiltrates the enemy ship - in front of the entire command team - and lets it be known that she is emotionally compromised as well. She’ll be monitoring his frequency - but who else’s?

She’s a shell of the Uhura I grew up loving. She literally blackmails her way onto the Enterprise by basically threatening Spock with letting people higher up know they’ve been having an unprofessional liaison against regs. She serves no purpose but to hammer a wedge between members of the crew, and when she’s useful it’s only at the behest of a male crew member.

I live for characters like Zoe or Kaylee from Firefly, or characters such as Captain Janeway or B’elanna Torres from Voyager. I love women in science fiction - but they have to be done right. If a character is created for no purpose other than to be a female character, I’m not going to support her. If her sexuality is the most important thing about her, I’ll probably dislike her. And if I find she doesn’t meet my standards, I’ll almost definitely complain.

I’m not a misogynist because I don’t like certain fictional women. That just makes me a person with opinions.

I’d rather have no Uhura than an Uhura who is basically treated as a sex object, is only useful when men direct her, and who is so obsessed with appearances that she refuses a posting on a great ship (trivia fact! The ship she was originally assigned to in the movie was Kirk’s first assignment. They worked together and impressed enough people that Kirk was made Captain and Uhura was recognized as one of the best xenolinguists in the ‘fleet!) in favor of blackmailing someone she supposedly loves to get onto the newer one.

I loved the original Uhura. Thanks for assigning me the label of “racist” because I don’t like the new Uhura.

No.

Fuck all of this.

ToS Uhura was criminally underutilized, often used as a plot device for the parade of mostly white men around her, and was hypersexualized when the plot called for it. This notion that Nuhura is a radical departure from ToS is a historical and, more importantly, hypocritical if you ask me seeing as she has an expanded role in the new franchise.  I’m not entirely pleased with how Abrams & Co. wrote and utilized her character.  But, don’t think I didn’t notice that even though every single character in nu!Trek has an almost entirely different characterization from ToS, that people are calling for erasing Uhura while not saying the same for the rest of the cast.  Don’t think I didn’t notice that you all also fail to leave out the horrendous racism and sexism to which Nichols was subject while you fondle the balls of ToS.  I see you.

I also see your racism and misogyny.  I see it in your victim-blaming when you chastise Nuhura for failing to prevent a fight between a group of hypermasculine white men, one of whom sexually harassed her, rather than chastising Kirk, supporting herand marveling at the smooth way she handled the situation.  Or maybe breathing a sigh of relief that she wasn’t harmed by any of these men.

I see it in you chastising Nuhura for changing her fuckin’ clothes in her own fuckin’ bedroom after a long day of academy without ever chastising Kirk for leering at her and not making his presence known (and sexually harassing her again) as if Nuhura is doing something wrong here.

I see it in your characterizing Nuhura as “blackmailing” Spock to get on the Enterprise without ever noting that Spock is her Commander, her instructor and coded as a white male and so has all of the power in this relationship.  She feels “entitled” to serving on the Enterprise because, as she and Spock noted, she fuckin’ earned it by being one of the best in her field.  But, because Spock wants to save face he tries to undercut her, a woman she supposedly loves.  But, somehow she’s the bad guy here?  Moreover, that “only useful thing she does” set the entire goddamn plot in motion just in case you missed that and also helps convince the captain to allow Kirk to stay on the Enterprise after he’s been discovered.

I see it in your characterizing Nuhura as emotionally compromising Spock.  Because moving to comforting your significant other after the traumatic genocide of nearly his entire species and the death of his mother somehow makes HER the asshole?  What in the actual shit?  She asks him point blank what he needs from her, and he tells her. Later, he clearly reciprocates when they say goodbye before he and Kirk beam out.

I see it in you saying that you’d rather erase her character, the only woman of color who is a main character, completely rather than having her not written to your bullshit racist, misogynistic standards.

So, nah, fuck all this noise.  You can cry about people coming at you for “having opinions” but your “opinions” are offensive, oppressive and serve to further marginalize WoC both in mainstream media and in sci-fi fandom.  So, congratulations on your Outstanding Racism.  You’ll go far.

White fans, I’ma need y’all to do WAY better than this and critically think about the shit you’re spewing and reblogging and how it might make fandom an unsafe and hostile space for PoC. That is if you give a shit.

-(trollnystark)

She’s responsible for guys overstepping boundaries? She’s responsible for the fact that Kirk wouldn’t take no for an answer, that Cupcake wouldn’t back off when she tells him she’s fine, she’s responsible when she screams at them multiple times to stop beating Kirk and they don’t? Because those silly men are just too dumb to control themselves and it’s her job to do it for them? Yeah no. She’s supposed to go four against one against people training to be security officers when it’s more than likely she’s not had an hour of combat training in her life to save the ass of a guy that spend their entire interaction ignoring her refusals and pestering her, when all of them are well aware a bar fight is last on the list of acceptable behavior for people training to be fucking Starfleet Officers? You’re a fucking comedian.

You’re sitting here trying to talk about misogyny in a post in which you criticize a character for undressing in her own bedroom. Her characterizations fucked up because she doesn’t like to wear her uniform in her off duty leisure time in her own room? Because she possibly sleeps in her underwear? Because she feels comfortable showing her body to her roommate? And you’re not blaming the writers for any of this. It’s not the directors fault her character is sexualized and hit on, it isn’t the writers who could have easily made the decision to cut away while she is changing or show her wearing a robe. No, her character’s writing is victim to sexism and your first instinct is to use it as an excuse to degrade that character rather than criticize the men who actually made those decisions. 

She’s selfish because she comforts her boyfriend after his entire planet is destroyed? What if she didn’t? What if she said absolutely nothing, did absolutely nothing? Would you be singing her praises then? I wouldn’t bet one single penny on that. Spock says thank you after she kisses him in the transporter room, kisses her back, embraces her. Still it’s her fault Kirk finds out about the couple despite him being an active participant, Spock’s the victim even though he’s the one expressing gratitude at her expression? I’m fucking done. She’s seen doing her job on the bridge after that moment and you have either straight up ignored this fact or just blocked it completely from your memory in order to get a jab in that she didn’t do her job and was selfishly just worried about Spock. You are straight up making shit up to defend your hate of this character and we’re the ridiculous ones?

You like Kaylee, Kaylee who during the fight everyone is positive will lead to their death her only shown motivation for surviving, for even trying to survive and not just hold them off Mal is the chance to finally fuck Simon? That’s not too sexual for you? You managed to get past her complaining about getting tired of just having to use her vibrator and still see her as a fully functional character despite having a sex drive? That’s not just being about your sexuality, but comforting your boyfriend after his mother dies in front of him is? 

Take your misogyny, your hatred of WoC demanding they actually get the shit they deserve (because the Enterprise IS the best ship in the fleet, and she was the best xenolinguistics student at the Academy, and Spock admitted she should be there but was assigned elsewhere due to their personal relationship. But oh no, who cares about what she deserves; she should be more grateful about getting a shittier position and having her career held back because of something that never even happened because this is set in an alternate universe), your hypocrisy, your victim blaming, everything on this post and shove it. If this is your definition of what a progressive, strong female character needs to be I want nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing. 

(via actingcaptainhikarusulu)