Science Fiction Boobs

Tonight my boyfriend was playing a video game. I don't know what game it was but it took place in space and many of the creatures vaguely reminded me of Star Wars in their design. I noticed that all, or most of, the female alien creatures had very human like cleavage. I've noticed this in spacey, alien films too. What's the deal?

First of all, it's interesting that when we imagine aliens in space, so many of them are "humanoid," or, human-like, with differences being fairly small, like bright blue skin or gills or a couple of minor features to remind us they aren't human. It's also interesting that more often than not, the characters that look the most similar to humans are the ones our human, space exploring protagonists befriend first, and often the villains look the most outrageous, un-human and scary.



But, returning specifically to the female aliens, why do so many have human-like cleavage, and why do they wear Paris Hilton-esque outfits to show it off? It seems to me that even when we imagine completely different species and the societies they live in, we can't escape the notions of women as sex objects. In so many science fiction films the female explorers wear these tight, revealing, cleavage pumped up outfits. The women are smart and capable, of course, but let's not forget why they're there: for the (supposedly) male fans to look at and for the male characters to lust after. I love the film Galaxy Quest because Sigourney Weaver's character complains about this occupational hazard of working in science fiction as a woman (though she does end up with much of her top ripped off before the film is over; meta-moment, perhaps?).

In the sixties and seventies, many feminists used science fiction as a way to explore alternative places for women in the world. Joanna Russ' The Female Man imagines a future in which women have taken over and learned to breed without men. It's sad, then, that much of today's science fiction, especially mainstream science fiction, continues to relegate the female characters to walking boobs. I think we expect too much of our male audiences (because let's be honest, these films and video games are marketed to males). What would happen if we had a mainstream science fiction film with a woman who wasn't a lust/love interest for our male protagonist and who was smart, capable, liked by the others, and had her boobs covered? What if the women WAS the protagonist? Would audiences boycott? I don't think so. And if we could make this a norm for science fiction, audiences wouldn't expect less.

I wish...