In the twentieth episode of the fourth season of Voyager, NOPE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent, rape/sexual assault.
I know this is not the first time I’ve spoken about this trope, and this is not even remotely the first time of it occurring in the genre. Body swap episodes are rife with this. It seems writers just can’t avoid the inherent grossness and just have to include a sex scene. Why? Why the fascination with it, and why does it happen so often that the person violated never has a problem with it?
There’s a neat episode here. It’s a rewarding look at Tom Paris’s existential fears, as well as the inability to find a way to fit into the ship if he’s not a pilot. His relationship with B’Elanna is explored in interesting ways. The horror vibe is often accomplished with expertise, and I certainly knew that I was supposed to feel creeped out by this episode. The garage set was a great addition to the story, and the idea of an alien who can consistently body swap in a linear fashion is terrifying!
And yet, as often as the writers for this episode can address the ill effects of this monstrous behavior, they still can’t seem to realize that HAVING A BODY-SWAPPED PERSON HAVE SEX WITH SOMEONE ELSE IS INHERENTLY SEXUAL ASSAULT OR RAPE. I’ll bold this for affect: If you gain someone’s consent through a deception like this, you didn’t actually gain their consent. You raped them. Yes, “Tom” and B’Elanna’s sex scene is implied, and there’s a small chance they didn’t do anything but kiss, but no. Even THAT isn’t addressed. Why isn’t B’Elanna ever shown to be horrified by what this alien did to her? B’Elanna, OF ALL CHARACTERS ON THIS SHOW, has literally no reaction to being deceived into sex and affection. I don’t buy it. Look, even if we discard the horrific implications of this writing choice, you’re still dealing with a mischaracterization. B’Elanna would never deal with practically anything through silence. Like!!! HALF HER CHARACTERIZATION INVOLVES HER TEMPER AND HER SENSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Which is why I like her so much; I am an angry, self-righteous bastard.)
This is just bad, y’all. It is a distracting whole in a story that would otherwise be pretty tolerable and exciting, but I cannot ignore. B’Elanna deserved better than this.
The video for “Vis à Vis” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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