Star Trek celebrated its 50th anniversary last week and one of the sci-fi series’ biggest legacies is shaping our modern concept of “fandom.” The original 1960s series inspired everything from conventions to fan magazines to fanfiction. And as Victoria McNally writes for Revelist, “Unlike the classic male nerd archetype that most people tend to picture in their heads, the quintessential Star Trek fan is a woman.” McNally goes on to add:
Long before becoming part of a fandom was as easy as starting a Tumblr account, female Trekkies (or Trekkers, as some older fans of the series prefer) not only dominated the Star Trek fan community but helped to create that community in the first place.
“It redefined the classic nerd to be much more inclusive. There were more women involved,” Stuart C. Hellinger, one of the organizers of the first ever fan-led Star Trek conventions, told Revelist. “The entire show was diverse in many ways, including the people that worked on the show. You had women writers and women story editors, and that wasn’t as common back then. A lot of different areas were opened up because of Gene [Roddenberry]’s vision, and a lot of the fannish community took that to heart, which is a very, very good thing.”
You can read the full article on Revelist.