Born Sexy Yesterday

TRON: Legacy.

Disney's neon-infused sequel
to the 1982 classic

includes a particularly egregious
example of a trope

that has bothered me for years.

"I'm Korra."

It's a gendered convention
that will be instantly familiar

to science fiction fans.

The convention shows up
over and over again

in speculative media,
but it didn't have a name.

So I gave it one.

I call it "Born Sexy Yesterday".

"She's an ISO."

The character of Korra is
an isomorphic algorithm, or ISO.

Basically, she's a sentient computer
program in the shape of a woman.

"She's the miracle, man."

"Everything I've ever worked for."

"A digital frontier
to reshape the human condition."

As the last of the ISOs,
Korra is described in this way:

"Profoundly naive."

"Umimaginably wise."

If that sounds vaguely like something
someone might say about a child,

it's no accident.

Because that's exactly how
TRON: Legacy portraits Korra.

"But between you and me,
Jules Verne is my favorite."

"Do you know Jules Verne?"

"Sure."

"What's he like?"

She has the mind of a naive,
yet highly-skilled child,

but in the body
of a mature, sexualized woman.

She also serves as
our hero's love interest.

"Profoundly naive, yet unimaginably wise"
captures the essence of this trope.

"Born Yesterday" is an idiom meaning
extremely naive, inexperienced, or ignorant.

"He thinks I'm too stupid, huh?"

"Uh, no..."

"He's right. I'm stupid and I like it."

"You do?"

"Sure! I'm happy. I get everything I want.
Two mink coats. Everything."

"Activate it."

As a media trope, Born Sexy Yesterday
has both the figurative,

and in many cases, a literal meaning.

The 1997 sci-fi cult classic
The Fifth Element

is probably the most quintessensial
example of Born Sexy Yesterday.

"I told you. Perfect."

Like Korra, Leeloo is whimsical and naive.

But she's also deliberately framed
in a sexualized way.

"They really made her-"

"Perfect. I know."

The female characters
that this trope is built around

are defined by their innocence of
and inexperience with worldly things.

"Pretty!"

Especially when it comes to sex, romance,
or basic social interaction.

"Would you mind if I kiss you?"

"Does it hurt?"

Though the use of
science fiction conventions,

they're brought into the human world
already fully formed.

The mind of a child manifests
in a mature female body.

She may be an android, a computer program,
a mermaid, an alien, a magical being,

or otherwise raised in an environment
isolated from the rest of human society.

Many of these female characters
have one very specific thing in common.

They're all deliberately written to be
completely unaware of their own sex appeal.

This stance provides filmmakers with
an excuse to include at least one scene

in which she disrobes in front of men.

And because she's so naive, she doesn't
understand the implication of this action.

"Morning! Come on in."

"Didn't bring my bathing suit."

"What's a bathing suit?"

"Ho oh, murder."

And you might imagine, there's
quite a bit of overlap here

"Oh, good morning Robert!"

with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope,

"This is a magical room.
Where did the water come from?"

"Uh, oh, well, the...
The water comes from the pipes."

"Where did the pipes get it?"

although characters who
were Born Sexy Yesterday

are often highly skilled at something
that men will respect.

Frequently, that thing is combat.

Now, so far, we've only focused on the
female characters associated with this trope.

But it isn't really about them.

"That doorway spins."

Like most things in Hollywood,
Born Sexy Yesterday is written for men.

And ultimately, it's a relationship trope.

"5'9".... blue eyes...
long legs... great skin..."

"You know...
Perfect."

So that means we need to talk
about the other side of the equation.

The male heroes.

Typically, he's a straight, red-blooded man
who has, for a variety of reasons,

found himself alone,
or unsatisfied in love.

He finds himself disenfranchised,
or otherwise directionless.

He either can't find, or doesn't want,
a woman from his own world.

A woman who might be his equal
in matters of love and sexuality.

He does have one thing
going for him though.

He knows all about living life
as a normal human being.

"Too bad you don't eat food."

"You might find it
to be quite pleasurable."

"How do you get pleasure out of food?"

"Here."

"No, thank you."

"If you want my secret,
you'll eat my sandwitch."

Of course, so does
every other guy on Earth.

Which should make him unremarkable.

"Chew! Chew!"

Except, to a woman Born Yesterday,

because she's presumably
never known another man,

he would seem like the smartest,
most amazing guy in the entire universe.

"Mm, this is fun! What is it?"

"Ham and cheese on rye with mayo."

And here where we start to see how
the trope is constructed as a male fantasy.

It's precisely her naivety
and her innocence

that allows her to see
something special in him.

Something that other less innocent
or more experienced women cannot.

"System: normal. Estimated resuscitation
time: 600 seconds. Commencing countdown."

Now we don't have time
to go into it here,

but Born Sexy Yesterday is absolutely
everywhere in Japanese anime.

Now I should note that Born Sexy Yesterday
is not a modern trope.

In fact, it's been a fixture of
classic Hollywood science fiction films

since the beginning of the genre.

"This was intriguing."

"I wonder just how far
women would permit this to go."

"It's nothing really personal,
just a kiss."

"Hmm. But why should people
want to kiss each other?"

"It's an old custom."

"All the really high civilizations
go in for it."

"But it's so silly."

"But it's good for you, though."

"It stimulates the whole system."

"As a matter of fact, you can't
be in tip-top health without it."

"Really? I didn't know that."

"I'd be only too happy to show you."

"Well, thank you very much, Lieutenant."

"No trouble at all."

Forbidden Planet in 1956 is one example.

The Time Machine in 1960 is another.

"Well, what's your name?"

"Weena."

"Weena?"

"How do you spell it?"

"Spell?"

"Spell! Write! Can't you write?"

Then there's a character of Nova
from the original Planet of the Apes.

"Look at that. I..."

"I taught you to smile."

who is the protagonist's love interest
despite not understanding

the concept of language.

The trope usually involves a white woman,
but Born Sexy Yesterday is an offshoot

of a much older media convention.

One in which white adventurers
discover indigenous women.

Although in this case,
science fiction replaces colonialism

as the mechanism driving that narrative.

"Big... Bada big boom."

"Big! Boom!"

"Yeah, big badaboom."

"Badaboom."

"Big boom. Big badaboom."

Still, sometimes it's a little of both.

Born Sexy Yesterday fetishizes
the stark power imbalance

between a wiser, more experienced man,
and a naive, inexperienced woman.

It's the ultimate
teacher - student dynamic.

"It's the custom of my people to
help one another when we're in trouble."

Star Trek is famous for making
frequent use of this trope.

Perhaps, "infamous" is a better word,
because the trope shows up

in the original series, and then
in every other series afterwards.

"And this.
Is this also helping?"

"You could call it that."

"Please, help me once again."

"Let's start by doing something
different with your hair."

Seven of Nine's relationship with
The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager

is a prominent example.

Especially as depicted in the episode
Someone to Watch Over Me.

"Try shaking your head a little bit."

"Is this more appropriate?"

Fans of that series will remember that
The Doctor's own social naivety

is never framed by the show
as something sexy.

"How shall I choose?"

"I think you'd look very nice
in this one."

"I am uncertain how to wear
such a garment. Assist me."

"Oh, I, I, I'm sure you'll manage.
I'll go prepare the Holodeck."

"Remember, the idea is
to have fun tonight."

"I'll expect a full report
in the morning."

Although Born Sexy Yesterday was
a major part of Seven's character,

at least to begin with, she is ultimately
made much more than than that.

And outside of a handful of
rather cringe-worthy episodes,

Seven's story is largely one of
self-realization and self-discovery,

which manages to transcend
the constraint of the trope.

To a large degree, this is also true of a
character like Sonmi-451 from Cloud Atlas.

Like Seven, her romantic relationship
is downplayed,

while her character development
is made central.

"Knowledge is a mirror.
And for the first time in my life,

I was allowed to see who I was,
and who I might become."

Which brings me to this point.

The problem with this trope

is not necessarily with
the female characters themselves.

If these were simply stories involving
naive, extraterrestrial women

who learn about love, and humanity,
then that wouldn't be an issue.

Likewise, if the male hero was also
inexperienced, and our two protagonists

could discover love and sex together,

then that would avoid most
of the troubling power dynamic issues.

"What's going on?"

"We need to understand how it works."

"What?"

"This chip. This body."

So for example, Cameron from
The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show

fits the trope.

But her relationship
with the young John Connor

is framed as much more
of a mutual exploration.

Since Born Sexy Yesterday hinges
on a lopsided power dynamic,

it almost never portraits
the other way around.

It's extremely rare for
a more experienced female character

to teach a naive man about sex.

"I think I better go home now, Mary Sue."

"Why?"

"I think I might be... ill."

"Something's happening to me."

"That's supposed to happen."

"It is?"

"Yeah, trust me."

"Wait, no, no. No!"

"That's your dessert."

"You eat that with forks."

Perhaps that's because
most grown women don't find the idea

of dating an inexperienced
adolescent boy all that appealing.

"No, no, erm... Leave that last.
Sandwitch first, dessert last."

On the rare occasions
when the genders are reversed,

male ineptitude then becomes
the butt of the joke.

"Hi. This is the woman from
the baseball card store. Remember me?"

"Oh yes! Hi! Hello! Hot-diggity-dog!"

"Thanks for calling me on the telephone."

She may even end up falling for him.

But she falls for him despite
his inexperience,

not because of it.

"Oh I'm so sorry!
I forgot about the autowash."

Born Sexy Yesterday is about
an unbalanced relationship.

But it's also very much
connected to masculinity.

The subtext of the trope is the rooted
in a deep-seated male insecurity

around sex and sexuality.

The crux of the trope is a fixation
on male superiority.

The fixation with holding power
over an innocent girl.

But in order to make that
socially acceptable,

science fiction is employed

to put the mind of that girl into
a sexualized adult woman's body.

It's a fantasy based on fear.

Fear of women who are men's equals
in sexual experience and romantic history,

and fear of losing
the intellectual upper hand to women.

In Woody Allen's 1973 comedy Sleeper,
the protagonist is frozen,

and when he wakes up in the future,
he's suddenly, and very conveniently,

the only man left on Earth
who still remembers how to have sex.

That same exact thing happens
to Stallone's character in Demolition Man.

"Oh my."

"Are all fluid transfer
activities like this?"

"Better."

"Better?"

"Oh my."

So Born Sexy Yesterday is
a science fiction trope

that's designed specifically
so male heroes get to automatically be

the most extraordinary man
in a woman's life,

again, because they are basically the
only man to have ever been in her life.

As such, the trope rests on
some troubling patriarchal ideas

about female purity and virginity.

By definition, characters Born Sexy
Yesterday have no past lovers,

and no previous sexual experiences.

She's framed as pure and innocent,
sexually and romantically,

unchanged and uncorrupted
by the attention of other men.

The male hero therefore avoids
even the possibility of being compared,

of being judged, of not measuring up.

At the end of the day,
this is a male fantasy

about escaping the humiliation
and projection.

Since he's the first and only man
in this woman's life,

he gets to be the best by default.

Which means he doesn't even have to try to
be a better partner, a better boyfriend,

or a better lover.

"That's what we call a kiss."

Of course, the reality is that
life experience is a plus,

and not a minus in relationships.

And we need more media to reflex that.

We need media where men enthusiastically
embrace women who are their equals.

Equals in everything, including
in matters of love and sex.

So to all you would-be
science fiction writers out there,

I'll leave you with this.

Innocence is not sexy.

Knowledge and experience,
on the other hand,

now that, that's extremely sexy.

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