The Misogyny of Whovians

This week is proof that communities and circles heralded as safe havens of inclusiveness often harbor the loudest bigots of all. Progressivism is championed until the proverbial sacred cow is threatened. With the BBC announcing the new Doctor, it became clear that, in spite of all the talk about so-called “nerd” fandom welcoming all kinds of folks, a woman Doctor is a fucking travesty to misogynist Whovians. From Facebook comments to Tweets, fans shared their disappointment and their disbelief at the BBC’s new selection. Of course, many of the commenters tried to guise their anti-woman rhetoric with questions intended to sound quizzical or else, appeal to tradition-“the Doctor has always been a man”! Nevertheless, too many of the comments illustrated quite perfectly how misogyny operates and why we need a woman Doctor.
Leading up to Sunday’s reveal, the show’s fans apparently hadn’t even an inkling that, (insert gasp), the show might have a woman as the front-runner and title character. It was just assumed that the next Doctor would be a man…again. So when Jodie Whittaker removed her hood, all hell broke loose. Nevermind that Ms. Whittaker is an acclaimed actress with quite a repertoire under her sleeve. No, the focus was on her lack of maleness, rather than her talents, skills, or abilities.
Some might argue that it shouldn’t matter then that she is female. “If it’s about her range as an actor, why are we celebrating that she is a female in the first place?”, the good men so studiously inquired. And to that, many women responded that it matters because of questions like that. Based on the amount of caps lock replies, the BBC and excited fans hit a sore spot. Besides, celebrating femaleness (whatever that means to a woman-identifying individual) is not the same as denigrating lack of maleness and that is the crux. While maleness is considered the default, it is absolutely necessary to celebrate femaleness, as well as non-binary and gender-queer identities, when presented to us as another form of normal.
Another gem that stood out: “What’s next-a male Wonder Woman?” To ignore that Wonder Woman’s power and history is very literally rooted in her femaleness-she wasn’t even born of a male-is either disingenuous or maybe just ill-informed, if I am giving the benefit of the doubt. There is nothing about the Doctor that requires what viewers perceive to be maleness. The Doctor isn’t a man. The Doctor’s life, values, nor thoughts are informed by their being a man. However, Wonder Woman does have to be female. Her thoughts, her opinions, her beliefs are rooted in her experience as a woman-as someone who can kick Superman’s ass, yet be subjected to the systemic power imbalances women face by virtue of our culture’s bullshit patriarchy. When people deny that our identities shape our experiences and vice-versa, it demonstrates that their experiences are part of the norm; otherwise, it wouldn’t even be a question as to why that “otherness” is an imperative asset in representation.
“What about role models though? Our boys need positive role models!!!?” I’ll admit; it is hard not to get ragey when reading that one in particular. Again, what is it about a girl Doctor that all of a sudden negates the positive influence she is going to presumably have on your son? What makes her less qualified to inspire your son to be a good person? Is it her feminine eyes? Her irrational emotions? Her supposed lack of spatial reasoning? You can’t simultaneously teach your kids that all people should be equal, and then disparage a fictional character as meaningless because she is a woman. But more importantly, you can’t claim support of egalitarianism and dispense stereotypes and tropes as accurate shortcomings that imply female inferiority of real people. Even if you don’t say it out loud, this particular stance wreaks of disdain for women.
While I believe that many of the upset people are probably decent, Sunday’s announcement just showed that it takes a long time to occupy traditionally male spaces with less push back, probably because there is a sense of loss. I genuinely hope that many of these people sit back and just watch. What better way to dismantle the patriarchy by cruising along with a badass Time Lord?
