#And denied TNG a lesbian kiss

[arielsojourner]

So in Star Trek the Next Generation 5x21 Episode "The Perfect Mate" the actress who will go on to be Jean Grey has her first debut as a mutant metamorph Kamala, who becomes the perfect spouse to whomever she bonds to. I liked the episode when I saw it as a kid. I rewatched this episode today and now that I know I'm ace and may or may not be aro, it is a really weird episode. Some of the weirdness:

Kamala never interacts with any woman. Dr. Crusher is quick to argue for her rights but never actually TALKS with her! And if Kamala is so lonely why isn't she allowed to talk to other women? Probably to avoid lesbian makeouts, but if Kirk could kiss Uhura, why not Crusher and Kamala? Even if we were pretending everyone was straight, why couldn't she just bond with Crusher and Troi and have an emotional conflict over doing her duty without just being horny for everyone man she meets.

Kamala empathically bonds with Picard not the man she needs to bond with to stop a war, her husband doesn't care about marrying her until he sees her and then seems to be in lust with her, and bonding to Picard makes her resolve to go through with the arranged marriage as a loveless duty even stronger. So does that mean she is Picardromantic an Picardsexual, but will never romantically love her husband but is fine having sex with him?

And then there is a throwaway line that men are frequently born metamorphs but women only once every 7 generations. What happens to the men I ask? Kamala was raised like royalty. What about the men? Inquiring minds want to know how that even works in their society? How highly sought after are these men?

I guess this whole rambling post is because I watched this episode with new eyes and have so many questions. And then I thought, what if there was an asexual character? Even better an aroace character? And I thought of how many shows or movies or episodes conflicts could be resolved if there was only an aro/ace/aroace character.

And then Data is chosen to be Kamala's chaperone since she can't entice him physically (since she is super horny) and she cannot read him with her empathy. She can't be trapped in her room with no friends (and no woman wants to see her apparently) so Data is the answer to "protect" her from her own libido and the libido of others. So are we to read Data as aroace?

(Do we consider Data ace or aroace? I never thought of it before. I think based on the season one episode with Tasha Yar he is sex neutral at a minimum. We know he is aroace but that is because he doesn't have emotions, but then he gets his emotion chip so then he isn't aro anymore, I think? Does that make him allo? I've headcannoned lots of people ace/aro/aroace but never Data!)

But even if we are to read him as a "Safe" non-allo, Data is entirely incompetent almost portrayed with a childlike simplicity so much so that he can't tell when men are hitting on Kamala and lying to him (I mean I know I am not good at picking up flirting but the show is painfully obvious even for me that Kamala wants to party with the miners hanging out on the ship and can't keep her hands of Riker. I can pick up on what she wants).

But after one near miss in Ten Forward, Data is just fired from his job as chaperone and conversation partner. Why? An aroace character or even an ace or an aro character would be the perfect solution, so to create imaginary conflict we just make the only arguably aroace character incompetent/useless?

But then, I don't really vibe with Data being any sort of ace or aro or aroace representation (his wishes to be "human" = only allos are human). But if he is a standing for an aroace character whom she could be "safe" with, he is ditched as any sort of possible companion. So he just is a failure at keeping people company because she can't get him aroused or make him romantically interested?

I am so confused.