Why are all the Angels women?

[Gun-wielding Lombax]

Perhaps I'm being sexist, but I don't find it very likely that the five top pilots would all happen to be women. Male pilots considerably outnumber females so far as I know, probably even more so in the military, and it's not very likely that by the mid-21st century that this would have changed so much that the female pilots actually outnumber the men, which is what's Spectrum's selections would seem to imply. I know the real-life reason is that Gerry Anderson wanted to be progressive and all that, but I'm talking in-universe.

One explanation is that they intended from the beginning to have an all-female squadron, but that doesn't really make a great deal of sense, as there's no advantage to that. By discriminating against men they are dismissing people who may have turned out to be the best candidates for the job, so if this were the case than Spectrum are being idiots.

Course, in OCS everyone in Spectrum except the Angels are men, so you may say I have double standards here because I'm not questioning the fact that the Colonel, Lieutenant Green, Doctor Fawn and the Captains are all men, but somehow I just find that more believable than the idea of an all-female squadron of fighter pilots. Spectrum is a military organization after all, and militaries are universally dominated by, well, men.

So are there any other explanations? And don't say it's because "whatever men can do, women can do better".

[Marion]

I think I am right in saying that in the audio adventure 'Introducing Captain Scarlet' - Colonel White explains to some military men that the Angels are all female as a response to the fact that most pilots are male and it's a nod towards 'positive discrimination' - shall we say.
I can't remember his exact words, but as far as I'm aware that's the only explanation we get.

Blue is a test pilot and Scarlet a WAAF officer, so they must be just as capable pilots as the Angels - if not better... after all, the Angels all seem to be pretty lousy shots.

[Intensity Angel]

Blue is a test pilot and Scarlet a WAAF officer, so they must be just as capable pilots as the Angels - if not better... after all, the Angels all seem to be pretty lousy shots.

Yeah they do tend to miss their targets an awful lot. Maybe, (I'm taking a random guess here).

The Angels just sounds better. Y'know, people do link Angels with heaven and clouds and Cloudbase, well you know where that is.

[Skybase Girl]

..... And Angels in most people's eyes, are women, although in fairness, mythology does not bear that out !

I see no reason, taking common sense into account, why there should not, and would not, be male Angels. After all, Cloudbase/Skybase would surely have more air defence than five women who rarely seem to be off duty. I like to think that what we see in both series' is just the frontline senior squad. The B Team must be lurking somewhere !

Of course, the men might have trouble with their code names, particularly if you persist with the musical idea. Sonata or Aria Angel might not go down well with some tough male top guns !

[Marion]

Hmm - now that could be the reason... after all what sort of code names DO you give big, butch male angels?
Some thoughts:
Bellicose
Pugnacious
Onery
Truculent
and
Scrappy!

[God bless the thesaurus!]

[Skybase Girl]

Oh, Marion - we don't need a thesaurus to come up with those. Speaking personally, they're in common usage when describing the men in our lives !

Maybe another reason why there are no male Angels - the girls couldn't cope the influx of male egos. Guys, don't beat me to daeth, please !

[Sage]

Actually no, angels traditionally are technically sexless or considered male (after all Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, etc aren't standard girls names).
There are I suppose more 'manly' sounding virtues; Justice, Capability, Valiant, etc.



As a femist and someone of a generally optimist benevolent nature I always just assumed these were the best available* candidates for the specific task, and it was a neat coincidence they were all women. After all we can't know what Spectrum's exact requirements were, and what being an angel pilot really entails in any detail.

I mean there's no logic, advantage or lack of discrimination in all the captains being men. They're the cream of the crop too. So why make a diffrence?

It seems logical there would be some male pilots, and by extension female captains. So hey someone write a fic and explain it all, would be interesting to read.

*As there are capable male pilots, in canon no less; but even then maybe they just didn't want that particular job for their own reasons.

[Skybase Girl]

I agree Sage.
The cream rises to the top, regardless of sex. Or, at least, that's how it should be,,at least in the Anderverse.
However,we've already touched on the fact that, logistically, there had to be more personnel than those in the front line, so it presupposes that some of the Angel squad would be men ( and some Captains would be women, as evidenced by NCS.)

[Marion]

I was only teasing.


This is a quote from an as yet unfinished story:


“The Angel Interceptors will be reserved for the Angel pilots’ squad” Black said.
“Then I volunteer to be one of them,” Svenson said quickly.
“That might be difficult – and you might come to regret volunteering…” Black said, smothering a smile. “You see the Angel pilots are all female…”
“Female!”
Metcalfe sniggered. “I think he wants to retract his previous offer to volunteer,” he said, as Black lost his battle to keep a straight face.
“I understand that they are ‘very charming young women’ – according to the colonel, at least.”
“Weight-lifters, I bet you,” Svenson said glumly with a rueful shake of his head.
...
“Why are they all female?” Svenson protested.
“Women make equally as good pilots as men.”
Metcalfe detected a slight hint of misogyny in Black’s rueful tone. His words sounded like a lesson he had been drilled into repeating despite his own misgivings.
“And these days, they get everywhere…” Black concluded, confirming the younger man’s suspicions.
“Huh,” Svenson complained. “I bet they are all built like heavy-weight wrestlers and need to shave more often than I do…”
“Aww,” Metcalfe teased vastly amused at the whole situation, “maybe, if you ask them nicely, they’ll let you have a go with their little aeroplanes…”
Svenson gave him a withering look. “Equal opportunity works both ways… at least it should. Why shouldn’t a guy be an Angel pilot?”

[Skybase Girl]

Can't wait to read the rest ! Get typing, Marion !

[Marion]

I have been trying to write it for about the past 3 years... I write some, I delete some... I revise and delete, sometimes I just delete...
Its one of THOSE stories...

[Sage]

Ugh I know what you mean. But then for me 'sweet child' was like that, and yeah see how that ended up. So it could happen.

LOL Blue is sort of cute when he's being bratty. I so badly want to read his reaction when he really does meet Symphony. Doubt she'd be impressed.

[Skybase Girl]

Ah, if you go back to some of Marion's earlier fiction, Symphony WAS impressed when she met him and maybe he'd grown up a little ( or was just bowled over, too!)

[Marion]

Oh, he's going to regret he ever said that, if she ever finds out, and Scarlet's not above a LITTLE emotional blackmail...

[Intensity Angel]

I really like that extract marion, can't wait to read the full story!!

There is one thing that bothers me about the Angels, why five? Isn't there any other Angels in Spectrum, and why can't Spectrum have a male squad of Angels? It's not fair on the lads!!