cari28ch3-me:

Honestly one of the most interesting aspects about “Lost in Space” is that it really really goes out their way to avoid exposing female characters as eye-candy in any conceivable way; this may be spoilery but here me out:

the main cast includes 4 women: the mom, the two sisters, and the villain. Besides those 4 there is also one trauma survivor, another pilot, and the pilot’s daughter. None are even shown in a sexual manner in the entire story.  They are shown as what they can do, have done, and survived so far in the story.

• The mother: Maureen’s relationship with John has been strained for some time and they make up and get closer to each other again as the story progresses, but their make up is never made sexual for the audience to see. Sure if they do have sex then that’s up to them but even when the typical “the room is too hot for clothes” scenario happens, no one is shown in their underwear or shirtless, they are shown thinking of a way for both to survive
• the eldest daughter Judy is 18 years old and in the line between snappy teenager and responsible adult, making mature decisions sometimes while acting like a young girl in others. And how often have we seen dramatic “artistic” shots of traumatized people occur while they are naked in the shower with the fog in just the right places? yeah the show doesn’t do that. It instead shows her freezing out of fear and then breaking out of that by showing her in action instead 
• Penny is the only one of the 3 siblings who gets a romantic sub plot but the plot doesn’t go much of anywhere because, surprise, boy she’s known for like 3 days is not a bigger priority to her than looking after her family who are all going through some really hard times. She says “I’m going swimming” and rather than having a fan service episode she is instead shown talking and following up to her promises; she is also the one ever shown wearing a skirt and even then she wears a skirt with leggings underneath
• the villain, oh Dr. Smith is scary as hell because she is a manipulative villain that never relies on sex appeal of any kind. She just wants to live and is willing to leave behind anyone who stands in her way regardless of who it is. She doesn’t make her way into the family by “seducing the dad” but rather “befriending” Maureen because she knows that Maureen’s opinion will help her stay alive. She makes herself seem important to every member of the family be it by “looking after the kids” or “helping them cope with stress”. It is so rare for a female villain to be just incredibly smart and deceiving without having to be sexy that hating her is actually fun and people trusting her feels believable 
• Angela survives the attack that killed her husband, is severely traumatized by it, and is clearly still recovering from her injuries. When she lifts up her shirt so Judy can examine her we get view of her scars, not the rest of her body. She often wears a tank top so they can show off the scars in her arms rather than have a gratuitous shot of her being sleeveless. No spoilers but they don’t kill off nor mistreat a traumatized woman of color, how about that? they validate her experiences instead and give her forgiveness for actions taken when in a dark place
• the Watanabe are admittedly less developed than the Robinson but they are incredibly likable family, with both mother and daughter being incredibly good at what they do and incredibly willing to help with whatever the survivors may need. Again, nothing sexual is made about them 

the fact that not a single woman in the cast is treated like a sex object and fascinating to me as we generally never get to see that. No one is in a crop top, shorts, underwear, or bikini, and no one is made to look like they took time out of their day to visit the space beauty shop while being in the middle of nowhere trying to save themselves. They are allowed to look dirty and tired and hurt as much as the men are and while some details are still tv worthy (how does Penny keep her hair so clean again?) no one’s described solely for their physical aspects, just their capacities