Despite all the military fascism, “Starship Troopers” at least takes place in a world of gender equality. Young men and young women are equally capable of becoming war heroes and being slaughtered by razor-clawed space monsters. Carmen, like most of the characters in “Starship Troopers,” is presented as an empty vessel, filled only with clunky patriotic slogans programmed into her brain by the state. Outside of that, however, she is a capable pilot and has her own romantic agency. Richards appreciated that about the character. She said: 

“I love my character, and the fans seem to appreciate she’s a strong woman. If there were negative audience reactions to her swapping between two men, I didn’t hear about it. At some point or other, everyone gets dumped and does the dumping … That’s young love! But for the most part I think she’s a badass, a great role model.” 

But then she recalled the nude scene that Verhoeven had written, and how she outwardly rejected the idea. From the sound of it, Verhoeven didn’t insist. It’s unclear as to why he added a nude scene, other than simple reasons of prurience. Richards said: 

“Paul added a topless scene that wasn’t in the original script but I refused to do it — I didn’t see the point of it.” 

Richards gives no additional context for the scene in question. When was it supposed to have taken place in the story? From the sound of it, the scene didn’t have any bearing on the story whatsoever. Richards held no animosity toward her director, though, and even praised his ability to wrangle an effects-heavy film like “Starship Troopers.”