Lal Names Herself: The Gender Decision
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Lal observes passing humans, identifying genders and recognizing her own inadequacy as neuter.
Data instructs Lal to choose a gender and complete her appearance, emphasizing the importance of this lifelong decision.
Lal attempts to copy Troi's appearance, prompting Data to redirect her to the Holodeck for a proper selection from thousands of composites.
Troi reacts with surprise at Data's preparation of thousands of options, underscoring the weight of Lal's impending choice.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Confused and anxious with sudden self-consciousness; curiosity drives testing behavior while a fragile sense of inadequacy surfaces.
Lal stands exposed in the corridor, naming observed genders, admitting 'gender neuter' and 'inadequate,' then impulsively selecting Troi's sex and appearance; her actions drive the moral question of identity in the scene.
- • Identify and label social categories to understand self
- • Resolve her feeling of inadequacy by selecting a definable appearance
- • Seek approval and clarity from Data and Troi
- • Gender is a definable category she can learn by observation
- • Being 'neuter' is an incomplete or undesirable state
- • Choosing another's appearance will confer identity or social acceptance
Measured and paternal — composed outwardly but protective, aware of ethical stakes and potential confusion for Lal.
Data quietly instructs and corrects Lal, affirms her identifications, prescribes accessing the databank, and gently vetoes her impulsive choice of Troi's appearance while proposing the Holodeck as a controlled selection environment.
- • Educate Lal about gender categories and decision criteria
- • Protect Lal from impulsive choices that could cause social confusion
- • Provide Lal with objective resources to make an autonomous decision
- • Lal requires structured information to make a valid choice
- • Allowing Lal to form identity with continuity under his care is morally preferable to institutional intervention
- • Immediate emotional impulses should be tempered by access to data and options
Warmly concerned and protective; seeks to validate Lal while also signaling the long-term social consequences of her choice.
Troi acts as empathic interlocutor: she affirms Lal's identifications, warns that the choice will shape social relations, and visibly reacts when Lal selects Troi's sex and appearance—balancing encouragement with concern.
- • Reassure Lal and validate her exploration of identity
- • Highlight social implications so Lal understands consequences
- • Support Data's effort to guide Lal without overriding her autonomy
- • Choices about appearance and gender have lasting interpersonal effects
- • Lal deserves compassion and guidance rather than coercion
- • Emotional validation aids rational decision-making
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Although the immediate action unfolds in the corridor, the Holodeck is invoked as the decision-facilitating space where Data will present several thousand programmed composites for Lal to choose from; it functions as a planned, controlled environment for identity selection and rehearsal.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"LAL: I am... gender neuter. Inadequate."
"LAL: I choose... your sex... and appearance."
"DATA: No, Lal... that would be confusing. We are taking you to the Holodeck to show you several thousand composites which I have programmed. You may choose from them."