Sexual and Romantic Networking on BSG

In Hera Has Six Mommies Julie Levine Russo explores the sexual encoding by both the producers and audience of Battlestar Galactica. The narrative trajectories of six female characters [three human, three cylon] have led the titular Hera to be surrounded by women who both take responsibility for the child's destiny and form a network of cooperation and nurture and - in some cases – sexuality. Russo introduces that idea of “girlslash goggles,” a way of reading Galactica and forming a narrative about the lives of the shows prominent female characters, mostly revolving around their love for Hera and the bonds they form with each other in service of that love.

It is true that to reveal the sexual connections between the three human women, one is required to do a little interpretive negotiation with the show. No sex is at all implied, but neither is it explicitly ruled out. On the other hand, a maternal network is created surrounding this child, one in which each woman has a distinct emotional investment and must, at some point surrender trust to the other women involved. While the audience mostly does not see any physical component to this covenant, there are aspects of it that seem analogous to components of a romantic relationship.

In one case, it should be noted, this maternal network does take on a distinctly sexual tone, specifically in the relationship between a number six and number three cylon ('Caprica' and 'D'Anna respectively). This union is completed by the addition of the human exile Gaius Baltar, with whom Caprica already has a relationship. The quest by D'Anna and Caprica to learn the truth about Hera and about the nature of God, leads the women to first torture Baltar, then to bed him together.

Russo indicates here, that this odd sexual triplet needs to be confined to the alien realm of the Cylon base ship, a repository for all things alien. But I tend to disagree. While the Cylons were initially mysterious and alien, their world is increasingly revealed to the audience as the show unfolds, to the point that, by the time this queer cylon union takes shape, a level of familiarity with the 'other' has been established. In fact, the sexual union we see is not alien, the audience is given a human stand-in (and arguably the most human character on the show) as a point of entry. Further, what we see is not portrayed as perverse or unappealing, but deeply complex, as one might expect.

All this is simply to point out that sexuality and love play out in diverse ways on Battlestar Galactica, and do not adhere to set standards. Relationships which are not sexual, take on seemingly romantic and sexual overtones simply because they are so complex and require something outside the norm for the characters. This blurred line of sexuality is important for establishing a continuum of sexual experience and portrayals on television.