# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/41 "2013-10-08T02:29:31Z")
> [@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. I’m not saying it wasn’t sexist, or badly done… … but there is a clear reason to do the scene other than to promote sexism. They’re trying to build some tension in that scene, while everyone waits for the results. And by having two different sets of results, the audience knows of a possibility that a mistake was made. (Since they wind up off course, this is an important function of the scene). And the captain’s speech should make us feel some tension that everyone’s fate rests in his hands even when he has to make snap decisions in the nick of time. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/42 "2013-10-08T06:01:40Z")
If slide rule calculators w[ere good enough for Mr. Spock](http://www.nicolamarras.it/calcolatoria/regoli_aeronautici/spock_e6b.jpg) they’re good enough for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/43 "2013-10-08T14:06:50Z")
I wacthed the MST3K version last night. You know, the movie was better than I remembered from childhood, still stupid, but better. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/44 "2013-10-08T15:00:51Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > His were definitely wrong; they used them and ended up on Mars so I think we can assume that hers were right. Not necessarily, She was a PhD in Chemistry, not an engineer. Her’s may have been just as wrong as his and sent them to Venus or something. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/45 "2013-10-08T15:05:09Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Not necessarily, She was a PhD in Chemistry, not an engineer. Her’s may have been just as wrong as his and sent them to Venus or something. Fair enough; but we _know_ his calculations were wrong, which adds an element of in-movie irony to his patronizing reaction, regardless of how accurate hers happened to be. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/46 "2013-10-08T15:09:37Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Hell, maybe if they’d used hers they would’ve wound up in the sun. You just don’t know. Helllo? Venus! ---
**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 8, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/47 "2013-10-08T17:34:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **digs** : > > C’mon, admit it – you, too, misread the thread title as “What old sci-fi movie had the sexiest scene?” Y’know, I can understand someone misreading the thread title that way. But how could you possibly keep that misunderstanding after reading the OP? Do some people actually not read anything at all in the thread and respond purely to the title? What kind of discussion does that lead to? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/48 "2013-10-08T17:38:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Do some people actually not read anything at all in the thread and respond purely to the title? What kind of discussion does that lead to? No soap, radio! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/49 "2013-10-08T17:52:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > 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: He’s not drafted in, he’s part of the crew from the beginning. And he will not. Shut. Up about Texas for he entire goddamned movie, until his skull is mercifully crushed by a rock. His best moment? He and Lloyd Bridges are both looking out a window at Earth, on which you can clearly see the outline of India: “Can ya see Texas down there?” Apparently, you can get through both flight school and astronaut training without ever having to have seen at a map of the Earth. ---
**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 8, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/50 "2013-10-08T18:09:56Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Not necessarily, She was a PhD in Chemistry, not an engineer. Her’s may have been just as wrong as his and sent them to Venus or something. In the real world, yes, I agree, hers could have been just as wrong. In the movie world, she was The expert on the fuels being used, and Dr. Conceited wasn’t. Also, B movies of the Fifties tend to be set in a black/white, right/wrong, simplified world–and so if he was Wrong, she was Right. (I suspect, based on no evidence whatsoever, that her being right was emphasized in early versions of the script and then was muted as the script was revised.) ---
**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 8, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/51 "2013-10-08T18:11:45Z")
Oh, and Texas Guy is super annoying. ---
**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 8, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520/52 "2013-10-08T18:13:00Z")
I doubt that that script saw much revising, if any. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-sci-fi-movie-had-this-sexist-scene/670520.md?page=2)