I've been thinking quite a bit about Dana Scully and domesticity. Recent social media posts from various people explored the possibility that Scully was "let down" by the X-Files’ writers - not simply, as Gillian Anderson indicated in a recent statement, in the revival, but throughout the series. Those argument seemed to be that the show was sexist because Scully never got to live the domestic life she wanted. My perspective is different. I don’t believe Scully was interested in domesticity until later in her journey. The more I thought about this, the more I began to theorize that, if you remove the alien abduction and paranormal piece - then, Scully's journey, her desire to "have it all" is not unlike the experience of many young women of her day. It is a worthwhile endeavor to look back at iconic characters with fresh eyes. I strive to do that now to argue that Scully's journey is very much deserving of iconic feminist status, but, perhaps, even more importantly, as that of an every woman of her generation.
From what we know, Margaret Scully (Dana's mom) appears to have been a stay-at-home mother. Dana grew up in a very traditional nuclear family construct with traditional values associated with Catholicism and a strong, patriotic, military father. From what we know, her family life was fairly typical with typical teenage rebellions such as smoking and typical sibling arguments.
Dana Scully was born in 1965 - two years after the publication of Betty Freidan's The Feminist Mystique which outlined the reasons why women had left the workforce to return to the home and how many women were unhappy with the lack of choices in lifestyles. This, along with the involvement of many teenage girls in the political activism of the 60s and the 70's, created a cultural change. Those of us who were female children in the sixties and teenagers in the seventies often wanted to have careers in addition to or instead of the traditional housewife role. Of course, we can look back and recognize that this perspective is from a white privilege perception. Also, that there were women who could be obvious role models who had successful careers. However, as a woman with a similar white Irish ethnicity and about the same age of Scully, I know that there was this feeling that our generation was going to break the mold. There is much literature about the cultural changes of the nineties as women had more active careers, delayed having children and getting married.
Scully, the medical doctor and scientist, made a decision to go into a male dominated field and to spend years in educational pursuits. Part of the reason Scully was seen as a feminist hero is because she was unlike other women characters on television. She influenced young girls and women watching to enter medicine or science.
When she decided to become an FBI agent, her father was upset. She went against his wishes. She did it anyway. She did it because she believed she could make a difference and she wanted to make that difference. She chose again to be in a male dominated field. This time she chose a career she knew would be dangerous. She seemed to like adventure. We have every reason to believe that in the pilot, when the audience first meets her, she had a desire to rise in the ranks of the FBI. She was an ambitious, intelligent, adventure seeking woman.
We see her early in season one at a godson's birthday party where she talks with a friend about not having time to begin a family. She goes out on a date with a man who has a son who asks her out again and she chooses not to go. Especially given that this is a show from the nineties, it is important that we not dismiss Scully's independent decision making. She decided, like many women of her generation, to delay family because she was focused on her career. We see Scully as a woman who, when she is faced with great distress such as the death of her father, chooses to work as a coping mechanism. She enjoyed her work. Additionally, Scully had early opportunity to change jobs within the FBI or return to medicine. She didn't. Maybe it was out of duty or loyalty to Mulder, but it was her decision. It was novel for women to have the options to make these decisions.
In season two Scully has a near death experience which sometimes causes people to reexamine their priorities. It is in the season four Home, that Scully shares that she would like to have children someday. Scully is, at this time, 31 years old. Then, later in season four, begins the cancer arc.
It is five years into the journey with Scully that Scully knows that she can't have children. She tells her mother she never knew she wanted something so badly until she couldn't have it. It is possible to think that, if, she was still able to have children at this time, she might have continued to delay. The knowledge of infertility created an urgency.
Then, she begins to try and adopt. Again, let's put aside the paranormal, abduction, and reasons why Scully cannot have children and that she wanted to adopt her own biological alien human hybrid child. It is not so hard, for those of us with lived experience, to remember the numerous news stories at the time about the unintended side-effects of women delaying getting married and starting families. It was actually about the same time as Scully that I, having delayed having children until my husband was out of school, discovered that, due to a health condition that started in my thirties, I was unable to have children. It turned out that our generation was the first generation to realize that you, in fact, cannot always have it all. There is a reason why such advances in scientific infertility treatments were made in the nineties. In many ways, Scully's statement - I didn't know I wanted it so much until I couldn't have it, was being said by woman across the country - many of whom looked into adoption or IVFs as alternative ways to have a family.
Here comes what will probably be the most unpopular opinion in this blog. It is my belief that Scully's statements in season six and seven related to “don't you ever want to stop and get out of the car” -her desire to stop running and to settle down are not statements that demonstrate that has been her desire the entire time. People change. I think she is older, has suffered some family losses, has almost died numerous times, and is being reflective of her needs. I think, though, that we see her saying these things to Mulder because she wants him to join her on this other journey of domesticity. Again, I think it is interesting that she at no point says to Mulder, let's start a relationship and you continue to do what you have always done, and I will be at home waiting for you when you return. All of the conversations include a desire to see Mulder and her stop.
Even in I want to believe, they do not have the traditional spousal duties assigned. Scully is the one that works. Mulder is the one who stays home (until he doesn't). I understand that by the time of the season 11 finale, the reveal of Scully being pregnant was complicated by much of the plot line around her first son. But we are not focused in this blog on these details. Women having babies in their fifties have quadrupled this century. This includes many prominent women such as Janet Jackson and Senator Duckworth.
I am not saying that the series would not have been better with more diverse writers. There are a couple of episodes, in particular, I think that this is true about. Even though I enjoy Scully being pregnant at the end of season 7 and think much of season 8 is superior story telling, I think, as with many other things, the lack of a coherent end game made the William/ Jackson storyline and, now, the new baby storyline, problematic. In terms of the fact that bad things happened to Scully - yes, they did…and to Mulder. Its an action/ adventure /horror drama. You can dislike the plot line and even the genre, but that doesn't make it sexist. (But there is sexism within certain episodes, problems with rape culture, absolutely).
Today in 2022, we are still discussing a show from the nineties because it is that good and because in many ways it is relevant. Many women are being forced out of the workforce now because of caregiving responsibilities. Reproductive rights are being threatened. Women Rights! Feminism! Sexism. These are complicated terms today. For me, Scully still represents the best of my generation. Scully making decisions. Scully as an FBI agent, doctor, bad-ass. Scully as a vulnerable woman. Scully who mirrors back that focusing on work means sacrifices for women that it doesn't mean for men. Scully not being perfect and not having a perfect life and, yes, Scully living in a sexist world where men consider women's reproductive systems as their playthings to make decisions about, and, despite that, her survival and resilience through it all - are things we women should celebrate