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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed by the slap on Dr Who?

51 replies

GoringBit · 30/08/2014 23:57

The Doctor does something that annoys Clara, and she slaps him, hard. There are no repercussions, no criticism of the slap, it's just accepted. It made me so cross; if the roles had been reversed, there would be an outcry - rightly so - but in the context of the program, it implied that a woman hitting a man is acceptable. And this is in a family show, I just think it's really poor. On the other hand, it's fiction and the plot is far-fetched, it's not trying to depict real life.

So it just me? Should I dismount my high horse? I don't think IABU to be cross, but accept that I might be, and am genuinely interested in others' views.

OP posts:
Whiskwarrior · 30/08/2014 23:59

Didn't Matt Smith get a couple of full-on slaps too?

It was a real corker wasn't it? DD and I winced. I didn't think about it at the time, but it's not really on, is it? If he'd slapped her, there would be outrage, but I suppose the argument is going to be (not from me) that he 'deserved it'.

Funny that, how men deserve it. Double standards, I think.

steff13 · 31/08/2014 00:01

Did she "joke" to the male teacher at the beginning of the episode that he was one of those soldiers who killed people and then cried about it, or did I hear that wrong? That really rubbed me the wrong way.

The slap did take me by surprise. I agree, if he had slapped her, it would have been a whole different thing.

Original poster
GoringBit · 31/08/2014 00:05

That was my feeling, Whisk... I wondered if I was over-thinking it, but to me, it came across as he deserved it (wrong) and that it was okay for her to do it (also wrong).

OP posts:
ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy · 31/08/2014 00:06

Yanbu.

Original poster
GoringBit · 31/08/2014 00:07

Yes, steff, something like that, I thought it jarred, too. Presumably there's some point given that the Doctor wouldn't take Journey as a companion because she was a soldier, and we know that Danny will become one, but it all feels a bit mis-judged to me.

OP posts:
thereturnofshoesy · 31/08/2014 00:07

Clara is shit

Whiskwarrior · 31/08/2014 00:08

I think we have a way to go before tv-land catches on to the fact that actually it's not ok to show women slapping men because they deserve it. It happens in the soaps all the time - if the men slapped back, they'd be the wrong 'uns.

And yes, steff she did make that 'joke' too. I think the writers sometimes forget that people watching it have brains that we like to engage from time to time.

PamBagnallsGotACollage · 31/08/2014 00:10

As soon as she struck him and nothing was made of it I thought to myself: it simply wouldn't be accepted if the roles were reversed.

It shocked me.

steff13 · 31/08/2014 00:16

When I was in high school, my history teacher was a Vietnam Veteran. One day one of my calssmates asked him how many people he thought he had killed. I've never again seen a grown man sob the way he did. It broke my heart. So insensitive. When the student asked that, it reminded me of that moment, but when Clara made that comment it really took me aback. Not Clara's finest episode.

CheesyBadger · 31/08/2014 00:18

I feel a bit like that about the face punch at the end of Frozen too

Bulbasaur · 31/08/2014 00:18

Morals aside, it does seem like a bit of an old fashioned trope. I haven't seen women slapping men in a TV show in a while.

Whiskwarrior · 31/08/2014 00:19

Bulbasaur - oh, do they not anymore? Shows how often I actually watch the soaps, doesn't it? Blush

I just had a vision of Kat Slater slapping someone - but I stopped watching Eastenders years ago!

NeedsAsockamnesty · 31/08/2014 00:20

I would agree if it was a 'serious' program or a soap but its a program where people run around being chased by aliens.

Bulbasaur · 31/08/2014 00:21

I feel a bit like that about the face punch at the end of Frozen too

Yeah, but if it were two men, it would still be ok, since he was the villain. Villains are an acceptable group of people you are allowed to hurt in media, men or women. Otherwise, you'd have to scrutinize every Disney movie where all the villains get horrible deaths. Frozen was probably the first where the bad guy was actually arrested.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 31/08/2014 00:22

DH was watching Game of Thrones this week. King Joffrey got slapped a few times (but you'd have to agree he deserved it)

Didn't watch Dr Who, but my DH and DS did. They didn't mention it, probably didn't think anything of it?

Original poster
GoringBit · 31/08/2014 00:23

I think there is an element of women slapping men (and occasionally each other) being portrayed as okay, it used to be the case with EastEnders, though I haven't seen it for 10 years or more.

It bothers me not just because it suggests that it's okay for the man to be hit, but also because it portrays the woman as being unable to express her feelings in another way. I find it offensive all round.

OP posts:
Whiskwarrior · 31/08/2014 00:24

Oh, why did you bring Joffrey into it 70?

Because you've just undone my whole stance Grin. He definitely deserves much more than a slapping - what an odious little turd he is.

PamBagnallsGotACollage · 31/08/2014 00:26

70, isn't it a bit sad that boys and men would just accept that there is nothing wrong with a woman hitting a man? I don't want my son to grow up thinking it's ok for his gf or wife to slap him when she's cross.

I'm suggesting you would either. Just wondering what you make of their lack of interest in it.

PamBagnallsGotACollage · 31/08/2014 00:26

Not suggesting! That should read.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 31/08/2014 00:30

I was uncomfortable with it too, for all the reasons above. The serious ones and the fact that Clara is an irritating immature brat who probably pulls pigtails when she's not strutting around in the tardis.

Whiskwarrior · 31/08/2014 00:32

Clara is leaving at Christmas - hands up who's glad?

Me! She's very irritating isn't she? DD loves her, but she's only 12 so can't see how spot-on the Doctor was last week when he mentioned her ego-mania.

fishdishwish · 31/08/2014 00:35

The slap annoyed me - it seemed to reinforce a lot of gender stereotypes, in some ways, and just jarred. As much as his companions got frustrated with him in the old days (and given that most of them were perpetually stuck with him in the TARDIS, rather than popping home every five minutes like the modern ones seem to), they'd never have been shown slapping him.

steff13 · 31/08/2014 00:35

Me! I think she's my least favorite companion, next to Rose.

CheesyBadger · 31/08/2014 00:45

Bulbasaur - but if Anna was the villain could she have been punched by Hans and it be ok? Surely this is the point?

(I realise I am off subject)

noblegiraffe · 31/08/2014 00:51

Women slapping men seems to be a lazy shorthand for the woman being a bit 'feisty' and this is usually seen as a positive thing.

I was similarly annoyed in the latest Thor film where Natalie Portman's character slaps both Thor and Loki. Loki's response to being slapped is to grin and say 'I like her' to Thor.

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