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In the TNG episode "Ensign Ro," Riker gives Ro shit for wearing an earring that's part of her cultural identity. Meanwhile Worf gets to wear a Klingon Sash with his uniform.

What the hell Riker?

Cultural imperialism in the Federation at work.

Haven't we done this one before?

Yeah, Riker was quite possibly being a dick because he didn't like Ro. but then Tuvok takes another Bajorn to task for the same thing in VGR's Learning Curve. (he was also being a dick in that episode though.)

And to play Devil's Advocate, a sash isn't a health risk in the same way a dangly earring can be.


eta: That earlier thread on Worf's sash

I still find it problematic because it's basically Riker saying "because I don't like you personally, I'm going to be disrespectful to your culture" and that bugs the crap out of me.

Or maybe it was because she was in violation of Starfleet's dress code. Do we ever see anybody else in Starfleet wear earrings in-uniform? I honestly never bothered to check.
Much as it claims not to be, TNG Starfleet still is a military service, and those tend to have rules about what you can or can't wear in the way of personal decoration when in uniform. If, say, a superior in the US armed forces told a female subordinate who happened to be muslim off for wearing a headscarf with the uniform, would that be him being disrespectful of her culture?

Dunno about ships crews in modern times or starfleet, but the reason finnish defence force didn't allow earrings for personel when I was doing my service (it's quite possible this is still in effect, I dunno) was that an earring could get caught on something (like a branch or similar) and tear itself of leaving a rather nasty wound that would need to be treated ASAP.

this could easily be the justification for starfleet uniform code disallowing earrings, though the main point of that scene as it's already been pointed out was that Riker was being a dick due the reputation Ro Laren had in starfleet (calling it personal history suggest Riker had met her before which isn't true IIRC).

basically Riker was being extra strick about rules to "show her place" to ensign Ro, which btw explains Tuvok as well as he was trying to show the marquis members their "place" in Voyager (the ship not the series).

It's less about "I don't like you so I'm gonna disrespect your culture" and more "until I know that I can trust you, you're gonna obey starfleet regulations to the letter", that's military disipline for you often times it seems stupid and needlessly mean, but it does serve a purpose and it's just one of those things you got to accept when you put on the uniform (and btw Riker has alot less problems with ensign Ro on later episodes (before her defection at least)).

Another thing that struck me as odd while watching the episode was that Ro's Starfleet file apparently does not indicate which of her names is her family name, leading Picard to get it wrong. Human cultures alone have a diverse variety of naming systems, so wouldn't it make sense for an organization with members from dozens of species to take that into account? Simply putting the family name in capital letters would probably be sufficient to make things clear.

Worf may also have gotten permission to wear his Sash (which did change when he became full lieutenant).
Ensign Ro may have no such permission.

I think if manskirts are allowed earrings should be fine.

But the manskirts are/were actually issued Starfleet uniforms. I guess they just weren't popular.