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To Be Human

Monica Roberts

This is a post I wrote last year on TransGriot, but the message in it is still relevant.

One of the things I loved about Star Trek: The Next Generation was Lt. Commander Data.

I loved the fact that Brent Spiner, the actor who played him was from Houston. The other reason I adored Data was because I identified with him on another level. Data’s journey during the 178 episode run from 1987-1994 was to be human, despite being an android.

Like transgender people, despite Data’s obvious competence in his job duties onboard the USS Enterprise and service to Starfleet, faced prejudice and people questioning his abilities. He underwent a trial to determine whether he was Starfleet property or a sentient being. He used his off time to revel in the joys of discovering the simple things and pleasures about life that humans and the other lifeforms on the Enterprise took for granted. He tried to understand the nuanced socialization skills that being human requires. He spent much of his off duty time perfecting his attempts at mimicking human emotions and using them at the appropriate times when possible.

Despite his great intelligence, processing ability and desire to get it right, he didn’t always succeed. Sometimes he nailed it, sometimes it turned out awkwardly, but he kept plugging away at it. He asked cogent questions, he worked diligently perfecting it, but in the end he proved to be more human than many people in Starfleet and the Enterprise’s crew.

Data’s series long journey, in many respects is similar to what we go through as transgender people. Despite the circumstances that we start out with in terms of being in a mismatched body, like Data, we transpeople are on a quest for our humanity as well.

We struggle to deal with all the phases of transition. We fight through the awkward ‘tweener’ phase in which our bodies are morphing from one gender to the other. We struggle to learn the appropriate age based gender knowledge, gestures, body posture of our desired gender without having the decades long trial and error socialization period to do so. We get used to the subtle and not so subtle differences between the genders and sometimes revel in the journey of discovery as it unfolds.

We also fight for our right to simply be part of the human family. We fight for our right to exist, to be respected, loved and live a happy and productive life.

And just as Data’s was a constantly evolving one until the series ended, so is ours as transgender people. We also discover that the peace of mind and joy we receive from traveling through the gender frontier and being comfortable with who we are and in our own skin is worth more than all the latinum in the galaxy.

Live long and prosper, trans Trekkies.

15 thoughts on To Be Human

  1. I have always, always adored Data. The Next Generation was the one show my family and I watched together every single week. I think that Data speaks to a lot of us, whether transgender or simply dealing with being an awkward teenager. We’re all like him at times – trying hard to become the person we want to be – sometimes messing up, sometimes succeeding, but somehow getting closer to that goal.

  2. Data was my favorite character too.

    I don’t identify with him as a transgender person would, but as an autistic I saw the same things in him as I saw in myself, especially when the character was trying to learn to be human while at the same time I was trying to learn to act (cause I’ll never be) normal.

    He was one of the few characters on television I could identify with. I grew up with Star Trek: The Next Generation and he was one of my role models. I don’t watch television much anymore so I don’t know if there are more characters like Data I could identify with, but I kinda doubt it based on what I have seen on the television lately.

    I liked Geordi too, because he was a real friend to Data and accepted him despite his faults and differences, and supported Data in his quest to become more fully human when others did not seem to see the value of such an endeavor.

  3. I was never a fan of Star Trek until my gay ex-boyfriend (who is now my best friend) introduced me to it and for reasons that don’t need explaining if you truly know what it means to have a “gay ex-boyfriend” I engrossed myself in the series in order to love it as much as he did. It still holds a special place in my hear (especially Wil Wheaton, who will always be Gordie from Stand by Me to me) But I recently saw an episode where Data was training another android, to whom he became very attached, at a parental-like level. There was great controversy at Starfleet as to Data’s comptency as a parent and I think there’s another appropriate analogy there if you look at at the episode through the lens you’re suggesting.

  4. Data was always my favorite character too. Maybe because I so often felt out of place and alone like he did.

    I raise my fist in Star Trek solidarity with you, Monica. 🙂

  5. This post made me really happy. I think that is what is so great about star trek is that there are types of characters who you would never see on other shows. These characters always have great back stories and you seem them grow and see the struggles they go through. For anyone who is a little different chances are you’re more likely to find a character who resonates with you on something like star trek than…dawson’s creek.

    Live long and prosper 🙂

  6. I don’t think I can add anything intelligent to this discussion, but I’m going to say that this is my favorite post on this blog since I started reading it two years ago.

  7. *intelligent = something that hasn’t already been said. Realized after I posted that my comment could’ve been taken badly.

  9. I loved Data for a lot of reasons, because I always had such issues trying to fit in as well, and I wished I could turn my emotions off and be just like him sometimes, too. I hadn’t thought of his journey from a TG angle before, but it fits perfectly. Great post, this Trekkie salutes you!

  10. I felt more like a Cylon. You know, the whole “pretending to be the opposite sex” gig that all trans people go through before they transition.

    And the way we’re treated afterwards when we reveal who we are in the course of fixing up the problem.

    It’s as difficult for our families too – can you imagine being in love with a Cylon, and only finding that out far too late?

  11. Live long and prosper, Feministe!

    And Zoe, I loved Battlestar Galactica as well both old and reimagined series.

  12. I miss Star Trek TNG. And Deep Space Nine. They had such great stories about human issues. People will be people, even in the future. It made me feel better to know, or at least think, that humans could evolve but never not be human.

  13. r.t. (post #2) – thanks for your comment. I really appreciate the experience and insight, and your willingness to share that with us.

  14. I’ve always taken Data’s character to be a commentary on how we treat the mentally ill in our society– then again, I’m a pysch major and therefore rather biased haha
    *Love* this interpretation of his role in ST:NG– I’ve honestly never thought about it from this angle and this entry was the catalyst for a great discussion about it with my bf (both of us hardcore trekkies). Thanks for the insight, I never would have thought of it this way.

  15. I really like this post. I’ve always been able to identify with characters like Data and Spock on Star Trek, as I’m fairly socially-awkward and I’ve had to struggle for most of my life to learn something that the world expects I take to naturally. I like that on Star Trek I can see characters who find human social dynamics similarly perplexing, whether they’re coming at it from the standpoint of an android whose programming dictates that he should struggle with human “manners,” or as a half-Vulcan who grew up in a completely different culture which places value on different things.
    But I’d never thought before of Data in the way you describe him, and yet it also makes perfect sense. It’s really making me wish I had a copy of TNG that I could watch right now.
    I think it’s a testament to the universality of Star Trek that characters like Data can mean so many different things to different people. I’d love to see more posts here from Feministe Trekkies on this subject.
    Live long and prosper! *gives Vulcan salute*

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