Space is a men's universe, period.

My dear fellow, in our SJW LGBTQ world of today, you can identify as absolutely what you want.
I forgot Thandie Newton because she has very little screen time, but yeah that confirms my point :)

Thanks for this clever answer.

I see your point, but Starwars has never been sci-fi... it has always been space-fantasy... It has more in common with the ring lord movies and such D&D type daydreams than it does with 2001, or Andromeda Strain and such...

These older-children, pre-teen/young-teen fantasy type genres are hyper-masculine, not in a sexual sense, but in their nerdy (I mean this as description, not as judgment) and obsessive adherence to rules of the fictional 'world' in question... In fact, they tend to be de-sexualised and non-sensual. I use the word hyper-masculine as a descriptor because it is older boys and very young men who tend to obsess about this almost exclusively... Rarely are girls or women this committed to know and adhere to the details and minutia of such a fictional world, it's structure and timelines, it's chronology and it's physics and rules of magic and 'forces'...

This kind of ever-boy, never-man, genre has been cultivated over the decades by hollywood as it has become a dominant force in popular culture, having become mainstream* with the rise of Superhero and franchise filmmaking. Now that dork culture and nerd culture (again, describing, not judging) are not only mainstream, but the dominant culture it faces the pressure all dominant culture in the US has faced... To be more inclusive and more open to women and such... It is only natural from a cultural point of view, but even moreso from a capitalist and corporate point of view as these mega corporations seek to monetise these brands further, now that they are mainstream...

That they haven't done so in a subtle and nuanced manner should be no surprise to anyone.

* I'd imagine that 20 years ago it would raise eyebrows if someone decided to discuss dragon ladies or superheros at a dinner party, or over cocktails. Today, you have to know Throne Game references in order to get some of the jokes that are made in corporate offices or in political and legal circles... Dork has become mainstream.

agree on the ridiculous prometheus reference regarding people 'playing' with dangerous looking and acting alien lifeforms ... takes you right out of the movie with how absurd that is.

I think even Leia was depicted as a loser and a chump in the sequel trilogy, the only difference being that Kathleen Kennedy seems totally oblivious to the fact Leia MUST be at least partly to blame for the events that transpired between the trilogies. If we accept the total collapse of the Republic, the rise of the First Order, and the turning of Leia's own son to the dark side as canon (which I don't), then logically as a top leader, general and mother of Kylo she MUST take a share of the blame along with Han and Luke. Yet, it is ONLY Han and Luke who must "redeem" themselves and throw their lives away...but not her, for some reason. If women and men are equal, then women should get equal praise when the succeed and equal blame when they fail.

And while were on the subject of Leia's incompetence, the fact is her plan in TLJ is nonsensical. How does this make sense?: (1) leading the entire remnants of the Republic/"Resistance" (whatever) on a wagon train in which they are being picked off like flies (2) to some distant salt planet with a few beat up old salt mining vehicles (I guess, I still don't know why they were kicking up the red dust) (3) in order to send out a distress call inviting everyone in the galaxy to immediately drop what they are doing and make a last stand on an obscure salt planet in order to protect literally two dozen people from being killed (4) and then act shocked and surprised when nobody shows up.

On the other hand, nothing anyone else in the "Resistance" does makes any sense either. Poe blows half the fleet on an empty phyrric victory against a dreadnaught which he says is a "fleet killer", and yet the First Order manages to easily wipe out nearly every single ship by the end of the movie anyway even without the dreadnaught. Then, Poe approves of a "plan" by Rose and Finn (with only less than a day of fuel left) to go off to some planet and find a "code breaker" (who for some reason Maz Kanata won't even divulge the name of), convince the code-breaker to join them, then race all the way back and inflitrate a Star Destroyer and um.. do something about some "tracker" or whatever... all in about a day. Huh? Why didn't Leia simply split the fleet up and send them in different directions (to some neutral planets, say), to regroup and organize a counter-attack, and then arrange to meet at some rendezvous point to make a stand somewhere that was actually strategically important?