Conclusions

The reason these stereotypes are present in the show is because of the people who wrote the episodes and aired the program. Less than twenty of the seventy nine episodes in the original series were written by women. The network that aired the show was NBC, which is run by white men. This dominant group wants to create programming that flatters themselves and their target audiences. Coincidentally, their target audience is also educated white men. In order to reach this audience, the writers put together episodes that will flatter this group at the expense of other groups. These stereotypes discourage viewers who are not white, straight males. Minorities and women are presented in such a way that they seem unwelcome in the science field. They are not presented as having the respect of their peers or the ability to work their way up to be a successful leader. There is a severe lack of diversity of characters in terms of their flaws and strengths. The women are emotionally and physically weak, the minorities and halfbreed characters are obsessed with the fact that they are not white. Throughout all of the Star Trek franchise, these stereotypes come up time and time again with different characters of the same demographic.