From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: sdlitvin@earthlink.net   
   Subject: Re: Amok Time: my review   
      
   "Graeme"  wrote in message    
   news:9d61de81-2ab6-4b89-8e5f-7f26e30ae95a@l30g2000yqb.googlegroups.com:   
      
   > On Jan 7, 9:17apm, "Steven L."  wrote:   
   > > That's no more "unbelievable" than the situation in today's co-ed Navy,   
   > > in which female sailors serving on Navy ships who get pregnant have to   
   > > be transferred to shore. a(And quite a few have.)   
   >   
   > I don't see the point.  When that happens, we know why they're being   
   > transferred because everybody knows what pregnancy is.  But nobody   
   > seems to know what Pon Farr is before this episode.   
      
   FYI, the Pentagon seemed genuinely ignorant of the average *rate* of    
   pregnancy among young, healthy women.  And the Pentagon seemed unaware    
   that female sailors on shore leave could be just as horny as male    
   sailors on shore leave.   
      
   During the Gulf War, 36 (yes, 36) female sailors serving aboard the    
   U.S.S. Acadia got pregnant and had to be given medical transfers to    
   shore, earning the ship the nickname "The Love Boat."  It was a big    
   surprise to the Pentagon, which has since instituted stricter    
   procedures.   
      
   It wouldn't have been a surprise to Roddenberry.  According to    
   Whitfield, when TOS first aired, Roddenberry had been concerned about    
   whether a mixed-gender crew on the Big E would be practical, or whether    
   it would indeed lead to pregnant crewwomen.  He actually contacted the    
   UCLA Medical Center to find out if 100% reliable birth control would be    
   possible in the future--a point he finally got to discuss in "Mark of    
   Gideon" in season 3.   
      
      
      
   > If (for some unimaginable reason), nobody knew what pregnancy was,   
   > they'd have to find out pretty quickly if they had women in their   
   > service.   
   >   
   >   
   > > This past year, one admiral tried to do a very un-PC thing: aHe ordered   
   > > that female sailors who get pregnant while serving on a Navy ship should   
   > > be court-martialed. aPresident Obama rescinded the order.   
   >   
   > Actually, that doesn't seem too unreasonable, as long as you're fair   
   > about it (court-martial the guy who got her pregnant too).   
      
   In the U.S.S. Acadia case, half a dozen of the pregnant sailors didn't    
   know they were pregnant at the time they shipped out.  Evidently they    
   had had sex, weeks or even days before shipping out--and didn't know    
   they had gotten impregnated.   
      
   What do you do with them?  You can't punish a sailor for consensual    
   relations with her husband while off duty, or punish her for her    
   husband's refusal to wear a condom.  To demand that female sailors take    
   an oath of celibacy like Lieutenant Ilia would start a political    
   firestorm.   
      
      
   --   
   --   
   Steven L.   
   sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net   
   Remove the "NOSPAM" before sending to this email address.   
      
      
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