Star Trek

Ahhh 90's TV... So there was a lot of issues during the 90's when it came to scripts. One of the issues was that TV Execs now acknowledged the existence of women but they weren't to sure what to "do" with them. You can see this in many many shows but one of the things that pops up is you might have a strong female character that has a few really good episodes or seasons but at some point the writing flips to they want to get pregnant and married (not saying either is bad but when it comes out of left field a bit it's clearly just tacked on plot).

The reason I bring the above up is that much of Trek (even TNG) women are treated in many plots as merely props in a narrative to move a story forward not as actual characters. Unfortunately this is also why the Federation seems so blasé to how they're treated, because they're not fully treated as a proper character. So, hilariously, the execs of the time (and writers) are somewhat caricatures of their own creations, the Ferengis.

I always thought the Ferengi attitude towards women was meant to be an extreme parody of existing attitudes, to demonstrate how ludicrous they are.

Only on season 2 of DS9? Oh boy, do you have a "treat" in store when you reach the "Profit and Lace" episode. It starts with Quark threatening to fire an employee if she doesn't sleep with him, and manages to go downhill from there.

The Grand Nagus sexually assaulting women, especially Kira, is never actually fully addressed.

Yeah, that was a weird one. In DS9's pilot Quark touches Kira and she threatens him ("if you don't take your hands off my hips you'll never be able to touch anything with them again" or something like that) but when the Nagus does it in season 2 it's played for comedic effect. That irked me too when I rewatched the episode recently.

One thing that gets me is that Sub Rosa was a rare episode that portrayed women's pleasure from a woman's perspective, yet it doesn't get proper credit for that. I mean, it's not a good episode tbf - It reminds me of those old "women's novels" you could buy at convenience stores, but at least it tried to do something progressive in that way.

You gotta remember that DS9 is set in the space version of a third world country. This isn't Federation territory, and the Federation's presence is on thin ice throughout the series.

My fiancee and I have been doing a rewatch of Voyager and let me tell you, I cringed all the way through the episode "Revulsion".