Star Trek Rant
Disclaimer: I want to be honest from the word go here and state for the record that I support prostitution. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT HUMAN TRAFFICKING! No one should be coerced into doing something they don’t want with their own body, but, on the flipside, I believe people should be able to do what they want when they want with whom they choose without my judgement.
Back to Star Trek: Husband and I were reading an article about Chase Masterson (DS9’s own Leeta) being a pop culture representative to the UN in the interest of gender equality.
This prompted a conversation about the Dabo girls and what exactly their profession entailed. I had assumed, on my first watch of the series that they were the equivalent of topless waitresses at a gentleman’s club (but with more clothes because, network television).
But when I watched it again, Quark seems to treat them more like prostitutes. This got me thinking. Are they okay with that part of their job? Are they being coerced? Does this make Quark a much more sinister character than I had realized?
This theory was reinforced by the episode where Sisko freaks out on Jake for dating a “Dabo girl” (although, he may have been upset that Jake was dating anyone).
So, for the sake of the argument, let’s just say the Dabo girls are also prostitutes.
Anyway, this led me to a closer analysis of Leeta who is the most developed Dabo girl character in the series. She dates Bashir at one point, marries Rom, and almost moves to Jupiter Station with Dr. Zimmerman. Not a single one of these men are put off by her chosen profession. They all treat her with respect and praise her intelligence and her kindness and talk about how good at her job she is.
THIS IS HUGE!
To my knowledge, there has never been another prime time network series that normalised sex workers and made that a small part of the character’s identity instead of the primary focus. AND SHE DOESN’T QUIT HER JOB AFTER SHE MARRIES ROM! In fact, Rom HELPS HER LEAD A LABOR STRIKE so that his wife can be paid what she deserves.
I’m not sure who is the better representation of feminism in this scenario, but I think together they win a prize for most feminist couple in television history.
