Star Trek

And all this time I thought I was the only one...

I.. I.... I do not know! Why, why... why? What is the answer??? I suspect it is because of my gentle, loving, empathetic, and forgiving nature that I have been plagued with since birth...

... Perhaps that is laying it on a bit thick?

Sure.  After all, he is fully functional and programmed in multiple techniques...

You´re welcome! And yes, you guessed right: I´m female ;-)

As for your question, the answer is actually very simple. For Data has one major advantage over any of your esteemed human male bretheren: he has an off-switch! LOL

Really, if you´ve been single all your life - and overall happy with it - and been living on your own (at max with a rabbit) for so many years, the whole idea of having another human being invading your "private area" to the point that he/she is living with you can be rather threatening. Then it´s nice to know that you can turn him off :-)

Generally speaking, I think Data would make for a great friend. Certainly no less of a friend than my rabbit: at least I can have a twosided comprehensible discussion with him.

As for the qualities I mentioned: I´m sure lots of people have those qualities (you can send some around if you like, for me to experiment perhaps? ;-) And so has Data. I know he´s a robot, but he´s acting and thinking so much like a human being, that it doesn´t feel right to exclude him from the possibilities of a relationship just because he´s different. Everyone has something strange, I´m sure. Why should I accept (for example) a person´s handicap or political conviction or religion or hair colour or... and not accept him simply because he´s not made up of flesh and blood?

I really like Data for who he is. His character. So why should I exclude him from possibly becoming a very good friend - or even more than that?

As for the emotional side (I only know Data without his emotion chip), it would mean adjusting a bit for me to relate to his not really understanding my emotions. But Data has shown more than once in the series that he´s perfectly capable of pretending and mimicking emotions. On the receiving side, it´s up to you how much you want to read into that.

As a comparison: I can´t really read my rabbit´s thoughts (except when he tells me he wants something to eat). Still, whether he understands me or not, in his behaviour he is very well capable of showing me love and consolation and affection and anger and frustration and boredom and joy and fear and... Yet as far as I know, rabbits are not even considered sentient, or are they?
The same with Data. Whether he really feels the emotion is not so important for the receiver. The receiver can read the appropriate emotions from his (mimicked/pretended) behaviour. So let´s turn the question around: what is it that your human male bretheren got to offer a woman that he hasn´t?

konarciq, thank you, for that
well-thought-out response. It's
quite a bit to absorb ... to digest.

First and foremost, if you prefer living
alone, with your rabbit, I know that is
your choice. However, you mustn't feel
"threatened" by a Man's Love. Instinctively,
a woman craves it. Even lesbians do - it's just
repressed, in a way science will have to determine.

So to explore this question, with your help and that of
your "sister" TREK fans, is very useful. But you wymin
don't want to be told the way it is, you just want to ...
to be held - wrapped in a bubble of fiction!

Please, don't pursue these Tonka Toy Fantasies any longer.
Not when you ladies need something far more substantial ...