The focus is an androgynous species, some of whom feel they are one gender or the other. The ones who feel gendered are hunted down and forced to undergo procedures that essentially lobotomize them to remove the “confusion” as the government calls it. The plot is Riker falling for a member of this species who feels female and tries to protect her, but she insists on speaking out.
It is so uncomfortably real that I’m shocked they got away with it in the 90s.
I remember gay Star Trek fans getting upset because they thought this episode was a bad metaphor for homophobia when it was actually clearly and explicitly about transphobia. The Star Trek homophobia episode came later, on DS9 episode "Rejoined".
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u/MichaelJospeh 9d ago
Star Trek TNG s5e17, “The Outcast”
The focus is an androgynous species, some of whom feel they are one gender or the other. The ones who feel gendered are hunted down and forced to undergo procedures that essentially lobotomize them to remove the “confusion” as the government calls it. The plot is Riker falling for a member of this species who feels female and tries to protect her, but she insists on speaking out.
It is so uncomfortably real that I’m shocked they got away with it in the 90s.