See, I understand why people have an issue with the scene, but I think the criticisms are a bit out of hand. That is often the case when I see this sort of thing becoming the latest Reason To Argue in fandom -- it's not that the criticism is utterly without merit, but that it becomes the latest thing for people to get outraged about.
We simply don't know enough about how the thing works to assume it completely overrides normal judgement and preference. You can either assume a largely benign effect similar to alcohol (which is, of course, the usual social lubricant), or you can assume that the second, full-strength shot is really self defense to diffuse a dangerous situation. When used like Axe Body Spray, it simply functions as a baseline sexual attractant; when used full-force in the face, it overloads and confuses the receptors, making them more inclined to read all signals as sexual attraction.
But I think it's *supposed* to be a bit wrong and give insight into Owen's character at the same time. The entire sequence is about them misusing alien tech for their own personal purposes, against orders. Yes, it's played, perhaps inappropriately, for laughs, but i'm not sure it equates to date rape; we also don't know what effect it has on Owen himself. (When people get drunk together and have regrettable sex under a lapse in judgment, that's not date rape; when one person remains sober while the other's drunk, then you've got the necessary power imbalance.
Owen's *cheating* by using a powerful sexual attractant, certainly, but it's not clear that the ability to say no is removed -- just that the likelihood of saying yes is vastly improved.
In light of the fact that we LATER find that Jack's own pheremones are probably somewhat enhanced along similar lines (and that such is commonplace, or perhaps even genetically bred in by Jack's time), does that change how people feel about it?
no subject
We simply don't know enough about how the thing works to assume it completely overrides normal judgement and preference. You can either assume a largely benign effect similar to alcohol (which is, of course, the usual social lubricant), or you can assume that the second, full-strength shot is really self defense to diffuse a dangerous situation. When used like Axe Body Spray, it simply functions as a baseline sexual attractant; when used full-force in the face, it overloads and confuses the receptors, making them more inclined to read all signals as sexual attraction.
But I think it's *supposed* to be a bit wrong and give insight into Owen's character at the same time. The entire sequence is about them misusing alien tech for their own personal purposes, against orders. Yes, it's played, perhaps inappropriately, for laughs, but i'm not sure it equates to date rape; we also don't know what effect it has on Owen himself. (When people get drunk together and have regrettable sex under a lapse in judgment, that's not date rape; when one person remains sober while the other's drunk, then you've got the necessary power imbalance.
Owen's *cheating* by using a powerful sexual attractant, certainly, but it's not clear that the ability to say no is removed -- just that the likelihood of saying yes is vastly improved.
In light of the fact that we LATER find that Jack's own pheremones are probably somewhat enhanced along similar lines (and that such is commonplace, or perhaps even genetically bred in by Jack's time), does that change how people feel about it?