(no subject)
Okay so I watched an old episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation the other night and there was such an awesome little monologue that I just had to get it down and I figured I’d share it here.
Basic premise is Enterprise meets up with a race of genderless people, called the J’naii. Commander Riker and one of the J’naii fall in love. Only thing is since the J’naii have evolved from a dioecious species into a monoecious species the whole culture looks down on gender, and all it represents.
Soren, the one who is attracted to Riker, is different. Though physically she is identical to her fellow J’naii, she is a throwback to earlier times. Mentally and emotionally she is female, and has had to hide that for fear, not only of harassment, but also of government sanction psychological gender nullification therapy.
Eventually Soren gets caught, and is brought before a hearing council who will determine her fate. She gives the following dissertation in her defense.
“I am female. I was born that way. I have had those feelings… those longings… all my life. It is not unnatural. I am not sick because I feel this way. I do not need to be helped, and I do not need to be cured. What I need, and what all those who are like me need, is your understanding… and your compassion.
We have not injured you in anyway, and yet we are scorned, and attacked. And all because we are different. What we do is no different from what you do. We talk, and laugh. We complain about work, and we wonder about growing old. We talk about our families and we worry about the future… and we cry with each other when things seem hopeless.
All the loving things you do with each other, that is what we do. And for that we are called misfits, and deviants and criminals. What right do you have to punish us? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how people love each other?"
Basic premise is Enterprise meets up with a race of genderless people, called the J’naii. Commander Riker and one of the J’naii fall in love. Only thing is since the J’naii have evolved from a dioecious species into a monoecious species the whole culture looks down on gender, and all it represents.
Soren, the one who is attracted to Riker, is different. Though physically she is identical to her fellow J’naii, she is a throwback to earlier times. Mentally and emotionally she is female, and has had to hide that for fear, not only of harassment, but also of government sanction psychological gender nullification therapy.
Eventually Soren gets caught, and is brought before a hearing council who will determine her fate. She gives the following dissertation in her defense.
“I am female. I was born that way. I have had those feelings… those longings… all my life. It is not unnatural. I am not sick because I feel this way. I do not need to be helped, and I do not need to be cured. What I need, and what all those who are like me need, is your understanding… and your compassion.
We have not injured you in anyway, and yet we are scorned, and attacked. And all because we are different. What we do is no different from what you do. We talk, and laugh. We complain about work, and we wonder about growing old. We talk about our families and we worry about the future… and we cry with each other when things seem hopeless.
All the loving things you do with each other, that is what we do. And for that we are called misfits, and deviants and criminals. What right do you have to punish us? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how people love each other?"