For Kate Mulgrew, playing a female captain was tough enough, but being under constant scrutiny and pressure by studio execs made her job that much harder.

As reported by New York Fox 5, Mulgrew found the first season of Star Trek: Voyager to be "nerve-wracking." "There were fifty 'suits' watching me for the first season," she said. "Just watching to see. Because that franchise was a big deal and to have put a lady in the suit meant shaking up that demographic which had a very sure thing for them."

Women and Hollywood reports that as if that wasn't enough, there was the desire on her part to avoid the usual leading lady snare of becoming a merely a sexual object. "I learned something about the male demographic when I played Captain Janeway," said Mulgrew. "They were quaking in their boots to put a woman in the [captain's] seat. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it's about sex. I didn't want her to look like someone they wanted to have sex with. I argued the fact that I didn't want her to have any sex as the first female captain because I was not going to run the risk of walking down the path that leading ladies have taken before, to become a sexual object. I said I'm not going to do that because if I can't win them with my command, then I'm not the actress I think I am. But they allowed it."

Just because she didn't become a sexual object on Star Trek: Voyager didn't mean that there weren't those fans who wished to see Captain Janeway hooked up with someone. "...the first question I am asked at every event is why didn't you have a love affair with Chakotay," she said.

To read more, head to the article and video located here and here. Thanks to TrekWeb and TotallyKate.com for the news tips.

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