For centuries, humans have gazed at the sky and wondered if we are truly alone in the universe.  Without any real evidence of life on other planets, we have made a lot of assumptions about aliens. How aliens would look and act is completely unknown by science.  In most early instances, aliens were invaders from within our own solar system.  In which case, there would be a good chance they would look similar to us. Tons of material is exchanged between planets as inner solar debris.  But early science fiction writings often described aliens in one of two ways.  Either they closely resembled humans, or they were monster like animals that rarely showed up for peaceful reasons. At the time, alien sexualization wasn’t really a thing.

First Instance of Alien Sexualization.

We spent countless hours watching old alien flicks and searching online. We conclude that the first televised human/alien kiss occurred on September 22, 1967.  Star Trek, The Original Series, season 2, episode 2, titled Who Mourns for Adonais?  The Enterprise is held hostage around an alien world by a powerful being claiming to be the god Apollo.  As the crew tries to escape the planet, Apollo becomes infatuated with Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas and they end up romantically involved.  This is the first example I could find of alien sexualization.  Of course, Star Trek had earlier implications of interspecies relationships, with the introduction of half-human/half-alien species (notably, Mr. Spock. You can read more about human-alien breeding, here.), but this was the first time they actually showed it.  

Aliens Became Sexy.

As mentioned, the earliest works of science fiction depict aliens as hostile, humanoid or animalistic monsters.  In H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds,” Earth is invaded by bear sized aliens that can only be described as hideous.  This terrifying depiction of aliens remained the standard throughout much of 20^th century.  While some works did include aliens that were friendly, they tended to stay away from sexualizing them the way we do today. Star Trek, however, tended to have a very different approach to the concept of life on other worlds and over time aliens have become less menacing.  Now it’s common place to see aliens interacting with humans in a VERY friendly way on TV, in movies, and in several popular video games. 

Dozens of cases of alien/human relations have popped up all throughout science fiction.  Star Trek continued to include interspecies relationships throughout its many series.  A few other examples include Hera and Kanan from Star Wars: Clone Wars. Ronnie and Brundle from The Fly. Neytiri and Jake from Avatar.  Madem Vastra and Jenny from Doctor.  Chiana and D’argo from Farscape.  And that’s not even getting into the video game, comic book, or novel examples.  What brought about this change?  Well, it’s complicated.

What Caused Alien Sexualization?

Digging deep into the topic, and watching dozens of old movies and shows that depict aliens (both hot and not) I’ve found that there isn’t a clear answer as to what caused the change. What I do know is that older alien shows usually depict a hero of some sort saving a hot human woman of some sort who has been kidnapped by an alien or monster of some sort.  It seems to be about the same point where the “damsel in destress” genre of movies died off (where the women just sit around waving their arms and screamed, waiting to be saved); aliens became sexualized.  As women took on a more dominant, less dependent roll in movies and TV, aliens all of a sudden became hot.  Not just female aliens either, there are just as many hot alien males.

Human Nature.

People have always had a wide range of sexual fantasies.  Since breading is part of our very basic nature, it’s not really that far of a stretch to imagine alien and human relations.  If at our core, humans are trying to spread their DNA through procreation, it makes sense that we would want to breed with someone from another planet.  Sending your DNA to another planet would after all be the polar opposite of keeping all your eggs in one basket. 

While this explains some of the desire people have to get with aliens, I doubt the creators of modern science fiction put that much thought into it.  In reality, its more than likely all about the ratings. It’s no secret that TV shows and movies tend to cast people both based on talent, and appearance.  It doesn’t hurt production to make aliens attractive and more desirable.  When people watch shows or movies, they tend to immerse themselves in it.  They imagine they are the characters being portrayed on screen.  By making aliens attractive, and putting them in cross species relationships, they become this un-attainable desire for people. 

Conclusion.

There are countless alien fetish website that have popped up in the last ten years.  The number of people going to cons and costume parties dressed as their favorite hot aliens has surged.  Aliens have gone from being hideous grotesque monsters to being a hot global obsession.  While there is no concrete answer as to why alien sexualization occured, it has become part of our culture.  We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.  Leave us a comment below.