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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hope that the next Doctor Who is female and not understand why this would be so terrible?

452 replies

findingme · 04/06/2013 10:05

My first AIBU - I have used advanced search and can't see an existing post on this so apologies if there is. I don't want to link to DM so please just google "Female Doctor Who" to look at the recent articles about this in the DM and newspapers.

It seems that it is a possibility and I can't understand why anyone would think this is a bad idea. AIBU?

OP posts:
Vegehamwidge · 04/06/2013 22:15

The Doctor has vowed to return to the top of a Las Vegas casino, and they are soon caught up in adventure. Doctor Who and his companion uncover the secret of the last Face of Boe. The Daily Mail complains bitterly that this episode exposes the show?s ?gay agenda?. Victoria Beckham is barely recognisable in an alien costume. Hehe.

Lazyjaney · 04/06/2013 22:31

I think the next Doctor should just be a sweet transvestite, transexual.....

MoominMammasHandbag · 04/06/2013 22:37

Edam, that made me smile; Tim was always a gentle soul compared to bolshy Topsy.

StuntGirl · 05/06/2013 00:55

The James Bond and Sherlock Holmes analogies don't stand up.

Bond and Holmes are specific human characters who only 'change' as far as the audience in concerned because it is impossible to have the same person play the character eternally. Therefore every time they change film/media/etc a new person is playing that character, but it's always the same person that they're portraying.

Just like you wouldn't create a Tomb Raider or Bridget Jones Diary with a male lead, as the lead characters in those films are human females. A male Lara Croft is obviously, not Lara Croft.

The Doctor is an alien who can take any form. There's nothing stopping that form being female, or even non-human. Therefore some people are questioning why the creators repeatedly choose a male to play the role, when the laws of the Doctor Who universe mean it doesn't have to be.

Incidentally the film Salt, starring Angeline Jolie was originally written to be a male lead character too (as was the game Tomb Raider thinking about it).

somanymiles · 05/06/2013 03:37

I think a female Dr Who would be interesting! Not a feminist thing - just another twist in the tale. My kids are BIG fans so we never miss it.

Louise1956 · 05/06/2013 06:42

This reply has been deleted

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LRDtheFeministDragon · 05/06/2013 06:49

I'm not sure 'fashionable' is the word I'd use. Confused

Surely Dr Who's character changes every time the actor changes? Even if you believe penises are a large and visible part of the show (I don't), surely it's not that big a deal?

I can understand people feeling that making the doctor female would be personally disappointing because they enjoy lusting after him, or because the dynamic of the show might change (it might), but I don't follow the character bit.

Vegehamwidge · 05/06/2013 06:52

Which other characters has changed sex lately Louise1956? It sounds interesting - well someone mentioned Watson upthread, but I think that's a bit silly, I'd prefer they'd make an original detective story. We've got Sherlock overload anyway.

I really disagree that the dr would be way too different as a woman- it's an alien...!

KatyDid02 · 05/06/2013 07:10

No, the Doctor is male. He could have a male assistant though.

saintmerryweather · 05/06/2013 07:20

maybe they could cast a proper actor this time, who can actually act even if that person is a woman.

what if the CEO of a company could only be a man. it has always been a man and men have been doing an ok job, so women arent considered for it. its tradition, after all and it just wouldnt be right for a woman to be in the role. why? well it just wouldnt.

nobody has yet come up with a credible reason why a woman shouldnt be in the role of the doctor.

Vegehamwidge · 05/06/2013 07:34

Maybe it's some sort of comfort thing. They think women are too different from men (even if it's meant to be the same person) so they think the series would change too drastically. That's the only reason I understand for being 100% against the idea other than wanting an attractive man in the role for the sake of looking at him. (?)

Sausageeggbacon · 05/06/2013 08:05

Saint the Doctor is a Father, husband and Grandfather within the show, that pretty much locks it as a man for most people who follow show. I asked my two boys would they watch if it was a female doctor and it was pretty much only if she was stunning and ran around in skimpy costumes.

Thanks to XH for this, even though the title Time Lord is non gender specific the genders appear to be fixed. The two genders appear to be distinct as highlighted by the terminology for president being either Lord or Lady. The doctor has held the title twice and in episodes where he entered the computer that controlled regeneration there were hints that Timelords regenerate as the same sex every time.

So backlash from fans against a female doctor, the mythos over all the years as being male and you get a situation where I don't see anyway a change would work. Don't get me wrong as i said back down the thread I would love it but certainly my boys would hate it. DS2 says the Doctor is the only action hero role model that doesn't punch people and that shows that brains will triumph over braun.

JessicaBeatriceFletcher · 05/06/2013 08:16

He must remain male for the obvious reasons quoted by others.

I want to see an older Dr again. Fed up with them having to be youngish and have a female companion with some romantic interest. if they maintain a youngish Dr I'd like to have an older companion (coz when Bernard Cribbins was in it as Wilf he was bloody brilliant).

StuntGirl · 05/06/2013 08:30

Bahahahahahahaa @ lousie1956. Do you take all your opinions from that decade? Grin

Perhaps he is known by male family names simply because he has so far always regenerated as what appears to be a human male? There's nothing in the Doctor Who universe that would actually stop a female doctor, just a deeply entrenched sexist attiude in ours.

Snugglepiggy · 05/06/2013 08:40

No.Agree with poster who said not everything has to become a feminist issue.Just No to it and I don't even like/ watch Dr Who but DH always has and loves it.I'm a strong minded mum of DDs running her own business and am all for equality but feel surprisingly strongly against a female Dr on the grounds that I think it would be a casting decision made to tick some political correctness box and I hate that.
Like the furore over lack of ethnic minority characters in Midsummer Murders.Never watched that either but read and heard all the discussions.Get over it ,it's a fact there are still villages that have a predominately white population.My SIL lives in just such a chocolate box type place down south. She's welcome to it.I live in a big northern town with a massively diverse and multicultural population and blooming love it for that.What I'm trying to say is it's a TV programme and a tradition all rolled into one.Just let it continue that way.

Vegehamwidge · 05/06/2013 08:48

I don't understand - it seems that it is those who are completely against a female Dr who think it's a feminist issue. Or "PC".

I do agree that there should be more interesting female characters on TV. But I'd prefer them to be new characters in new shows. I think a female Dr Who could be an interesting variation, and I'm not 100% against it, that's all. Why get so upset over it?

TheBigJessie · 05/06/2013 08:55

I'm fine with everything being a fight for feminism- I just don't think feminism equals making everything/one female, and calling that tokenism a victory.

ICBINEG · 05/06/2013 08:57
Vegehamwidge · 05/06/2013 09:00

Old female ginger dr with a young sexy male companion - everyone's happy (?)Grin

Lazyjaney · 05/06/2013 09:09

^^
if she was non-Caucasian too that would tick every box....

Vegehamwidge · 05/06/2013 09:11

Bit difficult to be ginger and black at the same time. The companion could be though Smile

TheBigJessie · 05/06/2013 09:20

It's idealistic, but I like things to be character-driven. Right, now there have been hints, tacit and explicit, that some Time Nobility (my name) change from Lord to Lady (females are Time ladies, you bunch of rubbish whovians- have you never seen a single episode of the Key to Time?).

That's fine. Nay, it's great. However, other members of the temporal aristocracy didn't like changing. They change their faces, but not their sex.

I think at this point, after 11 male selves, it would appear that the one who calls himself a doctor prefers to be male. It would take a better writing team than the one we have to make a new female doctor seem like it was story-line based rather than tokenistic pandering.

Lazyjaney · 05/06/2013 09:39

I think Time Lords are trans sexual and I think they could master being non Caucasian and Ginger too.

Let's do the Time Lord again....

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 05/06/2013 09:46

'I asked my two boys would they watch if it was a female doctor and it was pretty much only if she was stunning and ran around in skimpy costumes.'

Maybe that right there is one reason why there should be a female Doctor?

Although the slight corollary is that there are plenty of people who think Matt Smith/David Tennant/Christopher Ecclestone are stunning.

motherinferior · 05/06/2013 09:52

I'm non-Caucasian, ginger, and Old

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