Sexualisation of Women in Star Trek. Then and Now.

This was originally a reply in Google+ to a comment that complained about Uhura's sexualisation in the new Star Trek movies.

With sexualisation I mean a sexualised depiction of women.

The fact, that Uhura never had a long-term on-screen relationship with anyone until 'Trek 2009, meant, that many viewers felt her character not bound to anyone.

Part of the ploy of any exotic production is to get enough non-fans to catch on to a show.

It's possible, that the sexualisation part might have been the reason why Ms. Nichols almost left the show, had Martin Luther King, Jr. not prevented her from actually doing so.

During the TOS era, Uhura wasn't any less sexualised by those days' mores, but visual stimulation did not appear unusual.

But because how Uhura was positioned, it was: "Wow, a black woman is part of the major cast! Fourth-in-command (MLK told Ms. Nichols how important that was)! She can fix radio equipment! Operate a difficult communications console! Play with frequencies!" All this was so huge, that people forgot, that the dress on Ms. Nichols was per fashion still very skimpy.

Now the progressive part of society is desensitised to the fact, that a black person and a woman is just as capable and even more so; cf. Mae Jemison.

Sexualisation of characters is not unusual now either, but as a (Western) society, we appropriate a different value system to it, because our expectations are higher.