The
episode I watched in an attempt to answer the question posed in this
section of the course was That Which Survives from Season 3 of the
original series. The character of Losira at first is depicted as
part siren and part destroyer, killing at least one crewman, D'Amato,
on the planet,. When she appears on the Enterprise, she knows about
the functions of the ship, and is able to kill Watkins with the touch
of her hand. It seems that she must touch the men she is sent to
destroy, but when she touches Kirk, he survives. She says that she
doesn't “want to destroy”, but she “is for Lieutenant Sulu”
and “must touch him”. When she very briefly touches Sulu and Kirk
gets in the way, Losira has, as the Captain explains, “the power to
totally disrupt biological cell structure”. Later, she does try to
touch Kirk (and likely to kill him), although she doesn't want to
kill, and only 'touches' because she is “sent” and “must defend
this place”. Near the end of the episode, Losira becomes three
copies of herself, each one designated to touch Sulu, Kirk, or Dr.
McCoy. Then she is is revealed as having been replicated to protect
the planet where the occupants have been long dead, so her mission
seems to have evolved to be more of a protector than a destroyer.
This
episode caused me to rethink my stance on sexuality in that I became
even more aware of how sexual attractiveness, especially in women, is
used to hint at danger or seduction, or seems to do so. The way that
the plot in this episode developed, and the changing depiction of
Losira, showed that the device of 'woman as seductress' is not always
as negative, or as uncomplicated, as it first appears.
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