# What old sci-fi movie had this sexist scene? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520 "2013-10-06T18:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/21 "2013-10-07T06:40:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Your point being…? 😕 I was agreeing with you. Did not see any slide rulers in evidence. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/22 "2013-10-07T06:46:45Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I was agreeing with you. Did not see any slide rulers in evidence. Aha! Understood! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/23 "2013-10-07T13:04:24Z")
Damn. If I’d seen this thread sooner, I could’ve been the guy to answer it in no time flat, thanks to my multiple rewatches of Mystery Science Theater. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/24 "2013-10-07T14:41:21Z")
Same here. I knew it would be Lloyd Bridges right off the bat. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/25 "2013-10-07T14:43:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Rocketship X-M is a 1950 science fiction film, the first outer space adventure of the post-World War II era. Because production issues had delayed the release of George Pal’s high-profile Destination Moon, this black-and-white feature from Lippert Pictures was quickly shot in just 18 days, on a $94,000 budget, and rushed into movie theaters 25 days before the Pal feature, while taking full advantage of that film’s high-profile national publicity. Rocketship X-M tells the story of a Moon expedition that, through a series of unforeseen events, winds up traveling instead to distant Mars.[1] How many items there give the clue this is going to be a _really_ bad picture? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/26 "2013-10-07T16:04:07Z")
Just a note about the slide rules, which should have been used. The slide rule does not show where, in the final answer, the decimal point should go. So they’d have had to do the calculations by hand with rounded off figures in order to establish the order of magnitude of the answer. Also, one possible reason to have two people calculating would be to compare the two if there was a difference in the answers. Put them side by side and see where they diverge and then you have one operation to check, not all of them. Assuming that they both use the same standard calculating process and that there isn’t another mistake (or that there’s time for the second person to recalculate and recompare). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/27 "2013-10-07T16:38:57Z")
I haven’t had time to watch the picture yet, so let me ask: Is there an average Joe who’s drafted into the crew at the last minute to replace some momentarily disabled specialist because he has a technical skill that’s required? This was a favorite means of including someone the audience could identify with and who needed every aspect of the mission explained to him in great detail (“Night here on the Moon is actually _two weeks long_!” “Oh, I see. I didn’t know that!”). :rolleyes: If there is, my money is on Noah Beery. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/28 "2013-10-07T16:56:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Just a note about the slide rules, which should have been used. The slide rule does not show where, in the final answer, the decimal point should go. So they’d have had to do the calculations by hand with rounded off figures in order to establish the order of magnitude of the answer. > > Also, one possible reason to have two people calculating would be to compare the two if there was a difference in the answers. Put them side by side and see where they diverge and then you have one operation to check, not all of them. Assuming that they both use the same standard calculating process and that there isn’t another mistake (or that there’s time for the second person to recalculate and recompare). Placing the decimal point takes only a negligible fraction of the time needed for the whole calculation (and I speak from experience here). And two people doing a calculation can make sense, _if you’re going to check to see where they disagree_. But the commander here outright said that he wasn’t going to take the time to do that. I mean, at the very least, when two answers disagree, you want to do some basic sanity checks on both of them, things like units checks, or comparison to order-of-magnitude estimates. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/29 "2013-10-07T17:24:54Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > So whose figures were right, anyway? Does the movie settle the point? His were definitely wrong; they used them and ended up on Mars so I think we can assume that hers were right. It’s not actually that bad a movie; I for one quite like it. Lloyd Bridges is personable, and it has the courage to have a downbeat ending (everyone dies) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/30 "2013-10-07T17:34:27Z")
If you’re looking for sexism in cruddy old sci-fi movies, I can also recommend Project Moonbase. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/31 "2013-10-07T17:37:50Z")
You said it, Bright-Eyes. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/32 "2013-10-07T17:41:48Z")
It’s interesting to look at how various forms of SF has handled issues of bias. The Star Trek franchise has become famous for presenting egalitarianism of various sorts as an ideal. The original series was particularly against racial and ethnic bias - you had a Russki as a main character who was accepted as an equal at a time when the Cold War was in full swing for the viewers, and you had [that racial war episode with the multicolored bodies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield) whose point was to illustrate how stupid racial bias was, clearly intended to reference [current events](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement). It wasn’t until the 80’s that they really started to get into gender issues, and they ended up doing some funny/neat stuff such as the matriarchal planet where men have no rights, and they had a period of a few episodes where male characters started to appear in skirts/dresses based on existing ones that female characters had worn with no commentary on it (as if it was perfectly normal in the 24th century, it being a golden age of equality for humans etc.), then they dropped that. Even later, they got into religious issues and tolerance of other belief systems and really got that into full swing after 9/11 and the war on terror (Xindi Arc). In the end, the point is that these stories can and are used as vehicles for expressing the agenda or viewpoint of the author or authors. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/33 "2013-10-07T17:48:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > … > And two people doing a calculation can make sense, _if you’re going to check to see where they disagree_. But the commander here outright said that he wasn’t going to take the time to do that. I mean, at the very least, when two answers disagree, you want to do some basic sanity checks on both of them, things like units checks, or comparison to order-of-magnitude estimates. Good point. A few years ago, I was part of a team that was nominally supposed to do a cost/benefit analysis to determine the most prudent decision on what third-party vendor to use to buy certain components for our product. The problem was that Management had already made their decision and we were subtly but clearly steered toward finding numbers that supported that decision. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/34 "2013-10-07T18:39:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And two people doing a calculation can make sense, _if you’re going to check to see where they disagree_. But the commander here outright said that he wasn’t going to take the time to do that. I mean, at the very least, when two answers disagree, you want to do some basic sanity checks on both of them, things like units checks, or comparison to order-of-magnitude estimates. Yeah, that bothers the piss out of me. Why did I waste my time doing calculations? … Where do you want to be in five years? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/35 "2013-10-07T19:03:41Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > How many items there give the clue this is going to be a _really_ bad picture? I’ll calculate that number. You go ahead and calculate too, and then we’ll check our figures. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/36 "2013-10-07T21:30:17Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Wow. I’d say that’s even _more_ sexist than the OP remembered. For those who can’t watch it, the woman initially objects to the man’s decision, and he accuses her of being “emotional”. She says that she’s sure she didn’t make a mistake with her calculations and that with people’s lives at stake he can’t just insist on using his results…but before he can respond, she apologizes and looks down in shame. The man says she doesn’t need to apologize for “momentarily being a woman”… Yes, it really is stunning. It’s not just dismissive (as I remembered). It actually gets down into the sexism and rolls around drooling. I can’t see any reason at all for having a second person do the calculations other than to set the stage for completely disenfranchising her. Perhaps this was a strategic effort to stroke the fragile male egos of what they projected would be their paying sci-fi customer base. On the other hand, perhaps some crappy writer was trying to reconcile some kind of a grudge with zero self awareness and imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/37 "2013-10-07T21:46:09Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Yes, it really is stunning. It’s not just dismissive (as I remembered). It actually gets down into the sexism and rolls around drooling. I can’t see any reason at all for having a second person do the calculations other than to set the stage for completely disenfranchising her. > > Perhaps this was a strategic effort to stroke the fragile male egos of what they projected would be their paying sci-fi customer base. > > On the other hand, perhaps some crappy writer was trying to reconcile some kind of a grudge with zero self awareness and imagination. Thing is, his calculations, from what I understand, [spoiler] … were in fact incorrect. They wanted to go to the moon and, using his calculations, they end up on Mars! If the movie-makers were making a sexist point, seems a damned odd way to go about it - makes it look like they shoulda listened to her. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/38 "2013-10-08T00:55:24Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > His were definitely wrong; they used them and ended up on Mars so I think we can assume that hers were right. Assuming hers are right just because the captain’s were wrong is pretty sexist. Well, maybe not sexist, but it’s still a hell of an assumption. For all you know, they could have BOTH been wrong. Hell, maybe if they’d used hers they would’ve wound up in the sun. You just don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/39 "2013-10-08T01:38:58Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Yes, it really is stunning. It’s not just dismissive (as I remembered). It actually gets down into the sexism and rolls around drooling. I can’t see any reason at all for having a second person do the calculations other than to set the stage for completely disenfranchising her. > > Perhaps this was a strategic effort to stroke the fragile male egos of what they projected would be their paying sci-fi customer base. > > On the other hand, perhaps some crappy writer was trying to reconcile some kind of a grudge with zero self awareness and imagination. Gee, how many more BS feminist clichés can you come up with? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/40 "2013-10-08T02:20:27Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I thought Yvette Mimieux in _The Time Machine_ did a pretty good job of making me think happy thoughts. C’mon, admit it – you, too, misread the thread title as _ **“What old sci-fi movie had the sexiest scene?”** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520.md?page=3)