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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

'Pregnant man' on Doctor Who

95 replies

junebedford82 · 05/11/2018 13:45

Anyone catch this? Sounds like usual BBC bollox. Insulting to women. Hmm

www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-tv/hot-tv/740560/Doctor-Who-tonight-pregnant-man

OP posts:
AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 16:57

Well, he was an alien.

But it does raise the question of how this species defines ‘male’ and ‘female’ if both can carry children anyway.

The females must also have motile eggs otherwise how was he impregnated? Genetic material must have passed from the female to the male.

The problem is the series always has some kind of humanoid alien, albeit occasionally with blue skin. Had he looked alien - as aliens almost certainly would - the issue of him being ‘male’ wouldn’t have come up.

But non-sexual reproduction is actually the norm in Doctor Who. Sontarans are all male and supposedly cloned although that’s obscured by the fact that a number of actors play them.

Cybermen and Daleks are produced on a production lines, the Cybermen using genetic material harvested from humans, the Dalek creatures again being clones.

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 17:02

There's no hint of being female as being better for the Doctor than the male bodies before. It's just a case of, oh, better get on with it then, and acceptance of the body she has. Isn't that almost the opposite of trans?

I like how the show handled it. It was just ‘Why does everyone keep referring to me as ‘she’?’
‘Because you’re a woman’
‘Oh, am I? Okay then, let’s get on with the plot’

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 17:16

The maths doesn’t make much sense when you think about it. Men give birth the boys, women give birth to girls. Fine. But a male pregnancy lasts a week? The planet this guy comes from would be almost entirely male.

Echobelly · 05/11/2018 17:26

I thought it was rather sweet and touching, personally, and I had a laugh at the way he was declaring some of the classic 'mum giving birth' statements as well.

Melamin · 05/11/2018 17:40

I was a bit worried that the pregnancy lasted a week, he was one day overdue, and that it would take another 4 days to reach the medical centre...............

MrsJayy · 05/11/2018 17:48

See the Op hasn't been back to thread Hmm

QueenDoria · 05/11/2018 17:55

We were wondering about the birth canal? Didn’t make sense that it had to be cut out if him? Why was he experiencing labour pains then? There wouldn’t be and cervix dilating... lazy writing, methinks...

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 18:09

How would a species evolve if they needed medical intervention to give birth? The mortality rate would have been horrendous.

At the very least they’d have developed a culture where men took better precautions.

I’m starting to think the episode where the moon was a giant egg made more sense.

PurpleOva · 05/11/2018 18:13

The Dr did literally transform (regenerate) into a woman's body from a man's body. I get why there would be a positive feeling about that from the trans community.

But the Dr is also alien if course, and human beings can not do that anymore than male humans can get pregnant.

We are facing a scary future though. Uterus transplants is a terrifying idea!

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 18:13

IIRC, Dave Lister gave birth to twins in Red Dwarf.

SomeDyke · 05/11/2018 18:17

"How would a species evolve if they needed medical intervention to give birth? The mortality rate would have been horrendous........."
Well obviously a race could have genetically-engineered itself so that both sexes could get pregnant. If they still wanted to keep various aspects of a sexed binary reproductive system, rather than going down the hermaphrodite route, then they would have had to come up with a way that chaps with a penis but without a vagina could give birth. If you are genetically engineering the race anyway, then might as well have a birth sac without pain nerves, than can be easily split open (and that then heals jolly quickly!). Why two umbilicals though?...........Or of course, could have been gene-engineered by a bunch of females with a grudge..................

Catmint · 05/11/2018 18:19

I have noticed that this Doctor says sorry at least once per episode for things which aren't actually her fault.

Had a discussion with DH about it - is it a reflection of what the SW's think women are like, or something else?

I'm a bit hmmm about it & would be interested if anyone else has spotted it/ got a theory.

AssassinatedBeauty · 05/11/2018 18:19

I think the two umbilicals was simply a plot device to explain why the pregnant "man" alien absolutely needed two "doulas" assisting, thus requiring the two male companions to stay with him and not be helping the doctor.

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 05/11/2018 18:25

Yes PurpleOva, I can see why they might be immediately disposed to the doctors transformation. It's just the message is "Be happy in the body that you have" which is quite GC really...

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 18:26

I have noticed that this Doctor says sorry at least once per episode for things which aren't actually her fault.

That’s been around since David Tennant.

Every episode he says he’s ‘Sooo, sooo sooory’ about something.

Here’s a video of him saying it 120 times.

PurpleOva · 05/11/2018 18:28

The Doctor has always been the apologetic sort hasn't he (she?).. I haven't watched it for a long time though.

woodhill · 05/11/2018 18:30

I thought it was crap and so cringey

Also it's meant to be a kids programme partly and the character was talking about Unprotected sex or something along those lines, I wasn't impressed.

The character did seem to be in pain

ErrolTheDragon · 05/11/2018 18:32

The Doctor has always been the apologetic sort hasn't he (she?).. I haven't watched it for a long time though.

I'm pretty sure the early ones weren't (especially not Tom Baker's)

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 18:34

I can’t imagine William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker apologising for anything. It was that high handed rudeness and arrogance that drew me to the character.

MrsJayy · 05/11/2018 18:34

Matt Smith was always apologising

LavenderBush · 05/11/2018 18:41

@junebedford82 - did you watch this at all?

I'm sure you can catch it on iPlayer sometime and let us know what you think of the actual episode...

AspieAndProud · 05/11/2018 18:44

People get ruder as they get older.

Unfortunately the Doctor (Capaldi aside) keeps getting younger.

I prefer my sf heroes aloof: Spock, Data, Avon from Blake’s 7, HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I can get all the emoting I want from Coronation Street.

FermatsTheorem · 05/11/2018 18:48

Grin Aspie.

DS has finally embraced Dr Who, so as well as watching the current series, we're working our way through the Peter Capaldi ones.

Now - new Dr. I like Jodie Whittaker, I like the doctor regenerating as a woman. I like the companions. But, compared to the Peter Capaldi episodes, the plots are too simplistic. (I still watch a lot of CBBC with DS, and there's CBBC programmes with more sophisticated plots). I also come out of every episode feeling like I've been bludgeoned over the head with an important point about social justice. Don't get me wrong - I agree about all the points. Kindness, fairness, anti-racism, tolerance, great messages. But bludgeoning rarely makes for good fiction in my experience.

Beamur · 05/11/2018 18:53

Dr Who is a weekend teatime show. It's for kids/families. I've watched most of the episodes so far, think the new Dr is terrific and think they've dealt with things like gender, kindness, race, pretty well so far.
I agree with ninja I think the alien Dad story was really about developing Ryan's character.

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 05/11/2018 18:54

I agree on that Fermats. One of the reasons I couldn't stand the modern Thomas the Tank Engine was that every story was basically the same moralising. As opposed to the original where They just had adventures and stuff.

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