Feminism

I Googled scenes from that episode to see if the women were wearing micro-minis and matching panties, and by gum, there they are in the same uniform the men wore! Of course, they had the female sex object, Vina, as a variety of seductresses, so even given free rein, Roddenberry wasn't above using women that way. If he'd sold the series as is, he'd have had to have a pantheon of sex goddesses from around the universe, or changed the women's uniforms exactly as NBC must have requested to inject any sex appeal. As it was, he did both and the end result for women was Sex Kittens In Space.

Then again, this was the days when women were wearing micro-minis, burning their bras, and daring men to look at their legs, derrières, and jiggling bustlines so they could call them "male chauvinist pigs." Of course now the activists strip off naked and dare men to stare at their lady bits so they can call them "sexist pigs." I'm not a big feminist, obviously, but it just looks so foolish to have women dressed that way and acting so helpless when I'm sure everyone of the people working on the project had someone in their family who'd been a WAAC or a WAVE or had at least worked in Mr. Kaiser's shipyards as a Rosie the Riveter, and knew women dressing like that would NEVER be in the military, nor would women who were serious about their work put up with uniforms like that. For that matter, neither would women who were serious about their work squeal like school girls when something awful happened.

Maybe it's 20/20 hindsight.....

I agree in that Star Trek's example does not make it a shining demonstration of enlightened thought with regards to feminism. I don't think it is as bleak as your assessment states that it is. Dr Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman) in the second pilot. Lt Ariel Shaw in "Court Martial" and even though she gets the mini-dress it really is not distracting to the plot. I chalk her uniform up to the production being in a hurry and not taking time for a more serious outfit. The previously mentioned T'Pau and the chattel thing may not be culture wide but maybe a caste in regards to T'Pring. Sarah Marshall's character in "The Deadly Years." Marianne Hill's Dr Noel in "The Dagger of the Mind" is proficient as a character even though her hem could not be any higher and still cover a vital area. I don't see the Romulan commander as a dolt as she has "people" as to the security of the cloaking device. It's not like her job assignment expressly is to guard it. Her job in this situation was to get Spock to switch sides. Remember that in the original series the schism between Romulus and Vulcan was far enough back that one knew very little about the other including the state of political affairs. No reason to believe that all of Vulcan were flag waving Federation zealots.

Actually, the short-skirted uniforms weren't that bad. They had on little matching shorts under the miniskirt so the ladies didn't have to be too conscious about how they sat or moved, which makes them much more practical than a real-life miniskirt.

But what really made the uniforms slightly believable is that the ladies all wore the same practical, comfortable, low-heeled boots as the men! Because there is no garment on Earth more impractical, uncomfortable, and limiting of movement than a high heel. Good thing they die out in the centuries to come.

PS: And what did J.J. Abrams have Uhura wear in the reboot? Damn high heels, totally impractical things that she couldn't possible run in or walk over uneven ground in.

"Believe it or not, short skirts were an icon of feminism in the sixties, as they were seen as a liberating expression of female sexuality." True, much the same as going braless in lace or see-thru tops was supposed to "liberate" us from the sexist male chauvinist pigs. I lived through the age, though, and we didn't think of our jeans as being "masculine." Also, any place I worked back then, I wasn't allowed to wear micro-miniskirts, as they were called. And strangely enough, we had the choice of minis, maxis, midis, and micro-minis in the fashion world.

I guess there are a number of stories about how the short skirts came into being. The version I heard was that Roddenberry initially had the women in pants, as one would expect in potential war zones ("We come in peace! [Shoot to kill!]). In this version, NBC demanded the short skirts. Whichever version is true is anyone's guess. For the real aficionados, they could probably tell by when Yeoman Rand first showed up on the series.

The Network suits were responsible for the Mini low cut star skirts. In the original pilot "The Cage" you can see women crewman wearing the same uniform as the men. Thank God for NBC executive decisions!

They usually speak of Uhura being on the bridge, and women and men serving together in war zones (something that didn't happen in real terms until long, long after the original Star Trek appeared).

You don't have to believe me, of course -- although logic and an understanding of history should have proved it to you. But trust me, I don't care enough about this subject to lie about it, let alone get as heated about it as you did.