Your memory's becoming a bit selective, Deus...
By Cap'n Calhoun

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Consider T'Pol and 7 of 9's 'modified' uniforms, which makes no real sense whatsoever.

Why does everyone choose to ignore the fact that Troi had a tight, cleavage-revealing, "modified" uniform as well? And for that matter, every woman on TOS was given a "modified" uniform with a micro-miniskirt? The only women on Trek who haven't been subjected to this are Number One, Yeoman Colt, Yar, Kira, both Daxes, Janeway, Kes, and Hoshi Sato. Even Kira was given a "sexier" uniform as the series went on (although it was far less obvious than the others). (And, of course, Jadzia wore the micro-miniskirt once, but I hesitate to count that.)

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Consider some of the gratiously exploitative scenes featuring both characters. Consider how likely T'Pol and Seven are to lose their minds or otherwise become unstable, 'just like women do.'

Come to think of it, wasn't Troi exactly the same way?

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When T'Pol takes command of Enterprise it's usually captured or beaten to pieces.

Of course, when Archer has command of Enterprise, he's usually captured or beaten to pieces. ;-)

I'm not excusing sexism in Trek, but it's a bit dubious to hold Enterprise to a higher standard than the older shows and then act as if it has sunken to a new low.

Even though this is frequently compared with "Mudd's Women", I think it has almost as much in common with "The Perfect Mate". I really don't consider either of these episodes sleazy. And, be honest: If the "slave girls" had been dressed differently, would you have complained half as vehemently? Well, keep in mind that Roddenberry oversaw their creation as far back as "The Cage", which is where their dress was borrowed from. And what was Roddenberry's only complaint about them? He wished he could show more skin: specifically, the navel. He later created a character (not in Trek) with two navels to make up for it.

How much of the sexism described in your article actually came from this episode? While you did cite a few examples, it seems that about half of the complaints you had dealt with other episodes or even other series, and that you were using this episode as a focal point for more general complaints abuot modern Trek. I know you were establishing a pattern, but it feels like you weren't judging the episode completely on its own merits.

Is the episode still sexist and juvenille on its own merits? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I have trouble complaining too much about sexism when none of the women I've heard from think the episode was sexist. As a matter of fact, all of the women I know enjoyed the episode quite a bit. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they took the most sexist Trek characters of all time and turned them on their heads, actually making previous appearances of the characters less sexist in retrospect, a point which you neglected to mention in your review. (Doesn't it make sense that women who have complete power over men would be the masters rather than the slaves?) More likely, they just thought it was a fun episode. In any case, I would hesitate to consider myself more of an expert on misogyny than most of the women that I know, so if they aren't offended, than neither am I.

On an unrelated point, kudos to Manny Coto for giving Archer-T'Pol-Trip a real-life Kirk-Spock-McCoy moment toward the end of the episode when T'Pol cracks a Spock-like joke. Bravo: I've been waiting years for a moment like this between the "big three" of Enterprise.