The popular macho image of #CaptainKirk is so way off, especially in the context of the mid-60s, when the ideal male action hero was an unfeeling lone wolf (think Sean Connery's Bond, early John Wayne, etc). #StarTrek shows Kirk as connected, caring, even vulnerable, a foil to Spock's struggle to suppress emotion (which is arguably also about gender, but that's a whole other essay). Their dynamic was a huge part of the appeal to women, who flocked to ST fandom & invented slash.