I found Kustritz’s “Postmodern Eugenics” to be a quite interesting and engaging read. Kustritz's aggressive tack argues her point very well, although I can see how it could be offensive. What she is really attacking is political insensitivity, an issue which can seem nit-picky. Her arguments against Patricia Wrede's colonization fantasy and Battlestar Gallactica are essentially pointing to the insensitivity of their creators. Battlestar Gallactica may have many fine points, but I think that Kustritz effectively demonstrates its insensitivity towards abnormal family types. Not being a fan of the show myself, I have only the few of episodes I saw last week and Kustritz's description to go on, but her argument seems quite solid. In a world where woman officers are addressed as "Sir," it seems backwards for there to be no gay couples or at least abnormal couples. If gender is such a relaxed issue, why is homosexuality repressed? Suffice to say I supported Kustritz's argument.

If anyone has ever seen the series Firefly, this essay got me thinking about the racial depictions in that series and the sensitivity towards which racial matters are discussed. Firefly does not claim to represent such an swathe of humanity as Battlestar Gallactica does, (by following the last surviving humans, this is what BG does) but it does claim to represent a universe shaped by the clash and mesh of eastern and western societies. For example the main characters often interject their dialogue with mandarin. However the culture's encountered throughout the series are almost always significantly more western than eastern. I would never suggest the same insensitivity behind the creators of Firefly as BG, if only because they never claim to approach racial or gender issues as seriously. In any case, it was interesting to put a series I know and love under the microscope.